They collect small bits of paper, plastics, take them to school and get money in return
Students of 30 schools in the city have found a new way
to make extra pocket money. They collect small bits of paper, plastics,
metal, broken fashion jewellery, cartons and pet bottles and take them
to their school to be weighed and get money in return.
“Though
each student gets a small amount by collecting 7 to 8 kg of such
materials each month, they are happy to get that in exchange for waste
which would otherwise be disposed of in the bin,” said a teacher in one
of the schools, in Triplicane, which have enrolled in ITC's Wealth Out
of Waste (WOW) initiative. Students of classes IV to X are involved in
the initiative.
The ITC had, in 2009, initially
launched the WOW initiative along with the Chennai Corporation. It had
been collecting dry recyclable waste from houses in Kilpauk zone. Over
the past six months, it has expanded its services to 30 schools, 10
colleges, several IT majors and gated communities.
K.
Ramanan, chief manager – material, ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers
Division said: “We have now reduced the number of individual houses and
are concentrating on gated communities instead. WOW is also trying to
rope in government offices. The AG's office is among our clients…they
give us their sweeping waste and we collect about 1,000 kg from them.”
Ramky
Reclamation and Recycling Ltd. handles the logistics part of the
operations by collecting, segregating and sending the material for
recycling. “Last month alone, WOW collected a total of 400 tonnes of
recyclable material. We provide bags to students, residents of gated
communities and collect the material on a regular basis,” said P.
Madhusudhan Rao, senior manager (operations).
The
collected paper goes to the ITC mill in Coimbatore to be made in pulp
and then board. WOW, however, does not collect thermocol and paper cups.
The students have taken the message of recycling home too.
N.
Srinivasa Madhavan, a resident of DABC Abhinayam Phase 2, Mogappair,
said though WOW was launched only recently in his complex, he learnt
about it from his daughter Sadhana, a student of class IX at TI School
in Ambattur. “She used to get a bit of pocket money so she would collect
quite enthusiastically,” he said.
What brings in
pocket money for students brings the daily bread and butter for women
who sort the material. Every day, B.Usha, Y.Shanti, M.Mala and E.Rani
sort through 250 kg of bits of paper comprising bus tickets, bills, used
envelopes, greeting cards, milk covers, card board boxes, dry plastic
tea and coffee cups, polythene covers of all thicknesses, silver foil,
broken safety pins, used soft drink cans, discarded toys, plastic ropes
used to dry clothes, and a lot of other things. Hand-picked from among
rag-pickers and those who have worked with garbage, these women take
home a monthly salary of Rs. 4,200. It is a tough job, but the women say
that though they would like Rs.600 more towards bus fare, they don't
mind doing it.
