A Sustainable Solution for Home Waste: Report

Here's a report of mine about a waste collection programme that was featured in the 'Yocee Newsroom'.

For over four months the giant tub on my balcony has been filled with old clothes, stationery and plastic waste. This past weekend (6th and 7th January), all of this found a good home in ROKA’s collection drive, held at Kasturba Nagar, Adyar.

ROKA – Residents of Kasturba Nagar Association is an initiative run by the residents of the area in Adyar. The organisation is supported by the Greater Chennai Corporation and Wasted 360, an organisation that promotes sustainable solid waste management. ROKA aims to reduce the amount of everyday home waste going to landfills by organizing various collection drives and events around Chennai. Over the years, they have organised collection drives that bring together E-waste, old clothes, shoes, bags, stationery, toys, and hard & soft plastics.

We had come all the way from Navalur to the Adyar collection drive, and we were amazed to see how cleverly each type of waste was segregated. This showed the ways that humans pollute the environment. Spaces were allotted to collect E-waste, old clothes, plastic bags, bottles, toys and stationery. I spoke to Janani Venkitesh, Secretary of ROKA about the drive, “The drive collects 12 categories of waste and over 400 people have come to contribute from across Chennai over the two-day event”. She also thanked volunteers from Loyola College who helped in this drive. 

Apart from collection, there was also a stall which taught people how to compost their wet waste in their backyard or even balconies. A thrift stall also had recycled items that had been refurbished and made new again. Outside the hall, a truck from Wasted360 dispensed various cleaning liquids, laundry detergents and handwash. All you need to do is bring your bottles and collect a litre of these liquids. This helps reuse old bottles and helps reduce the number of plastic waste generated by the household.

After visiting this collection drive, I was able to understand the measures we take to segregate waste at home and why we take such necessary precautions. At home, we are conscious of how we segregate our waste – not dropping our old pens into the garbage bin for example. If you want to start segregating your waste at home, go to Wasted360’s Instagram or Facebook pages for methods to recycle at home.

You don’t need to wait for ROKA’s next collection drive, just head to Wasted360’s collection point at their T Nagar Office (https://www.indiawasted.com/). The dispenser truck from Wasted360 is always on the move, check them out too to stock up on your cleaning liquids.

Here are a few handles to follow for environment-conscious people.

ROKA Contact Details

Email- roka.drives@gmail.com

Phone no.- 97911 03797

(Future events will be announced on ROKA’s Instagram and Facebook pages)

Instagram- @rokachennai

Facebook- ROKA - Residents of Kasturbanagar Association