Signing you in

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

Corporation Commissioner Gourav Kumar and Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan initiate segregation of garbage collection work at Jaihindpuram in Madurai on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Launching an ambitious door-to-door collection of segregated waste in four types under the Solid Waste Management Rules 2026, Corporation Commissioner Gaurav Kumar and Mayor in-charge T. Nagarajan appealed to the residents for full cooperation here on Tuesday.

Distributing colour bins in Green, Blue, Red and Black to the residents in Jaihindpuram (ward 80, zone 5), they said that all households, commercial establishments and institutions shall mandatorily segregate municipal solid waste at source into the following four categories before handing it over to the authorised collection staff.

The kitchen waste, cooked and uncooked food waste, fruit and vegetable waste, flowers, tea leaves, coffee grounds, egg shells and other bio-degradable waste have been categorised as wet waste.

Paper, cardboard, newspapers, books, plastic, metal glass, cartons, textiles, packaging materials and other recyclable wastes would come under dry waste.

Used sanitary napkins, diapers, incontinence pads, tampons, contraceptives and other wastes are treated as sanitary waste.

Expired medicines, paint containers, pesticide cans, CFL bulbs, tubelights, batteries, mercury containing items, household e-waste and other domestic hazardous waste notified under the SWM Rules 2026 would come under special care waste or domestic hazardous waste.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr Gaurav Kumar said that wet waste (green bin), dry waste (blue bin), sanitary waste (red bin) would be collected daily, while domestic hazardous waste (black bin) would be picked up once in a week (preferably on Wednesdays).

He said that mixed waste would not be accepted and urged the waste generators to comply with the provisions of the SWM Rules 2026.

The objective of segregation of waste at source was to ensure cleaner eco-system. “This is just a beginning. We can see improvements, only with the cooperation of the residents,” he summed up.

Earlier, the Mayor and Commissioner flagged off the vehicles to other wards/ zones in the city for collection of waste through the four types. About 3,500 bins were distributed to the residents in Jaihindpuram.

The Commissioner said that the best resident, who segregated the waste as per the SWM Rules would be rewarded every month. To judge the winner, a QR code would be provided to every resident. On collection of the garbage by the waste collector, the ranking would be noted and accordingly it would be assessed.

The Sethu Institute of Technology (SIT) had come forward to assist the civic body in supplying the QR code among others, he added.

Senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner Rajaram, City Health Officer Arvind Jothi, Assistant Commissioner Kumaran, Assistant City Health Officer Abishek, SIT founder S. Mohamed Jaleel, Correspondent S.M. Seeni Mohideen, Olirum Madurai Director K.T. Rajan and others participated at the inauguration.

Welcoming the initiative, Gomathipuram-Thendral Nagar Residents Welfare Association president Raghavan said that it would go a long way in keeping the city clean and green. He urged the waste collectors to stick to the timing and also visit regularly to collect the garbage.

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.