Segregate and exchange waste for pedal power

Come June, students of city schools stand a chance to win bicycles from Tiruchi Corporation every month. All they have to do is to segregate and hand over their household garbage to the civic body’s sanitary workers.

Under the novel scheme, which is expected to be launched from the first week of June, students of all 360 primary, middle and higher secondary schools will be given a solid waste management card by Tiruchi City Corporation through their schools. The cards will have details of the wards, and workers allotted to the residential colonies and streets to collect waste from households.

Role of students

The role of the students is simple: they can either segregate waste into bio-degradable and non-degradable and hand them over to the garbage collector, or persuade their parents to do so every day. Thereafter, the students will have to get the garbage collector’s signature and return the cards to their schools. The students, who meticulously do the task and fully adhere to the rules, will be rewarded with bicycles.

Corporation Commissioner N. Ravichandran told The Hindu that the scheme was intended to spread awareness among the citizens on the need to segregate waste at source and duly hand it over to the sanitary workers. The prize scheme would motivate the students and their parents to perform the task without fail.

There were about 360 schools including government, corporation, aided and private schools in the city. The Corporation would award 360 bicycles every month. Each school would get a bicycle every month and it would be given to the best student along with a certificate. The modalities of selecting best students and rules and regulations were being worked out.

Mr. Ravichandran said a few State and private institutions had come forward to sponsor the prizes under the Corporate Social Responsibility fund. All schools in the city would be roped in for the scheme. The heads of schools had also been apprised of the initiative. The prize scheme would inculcate in students the value of keeping their surroundings clean and neat.

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