Dangers of e-waste
A booklet highlighting the 'dangers of e-waste' to mark Green Action Week 2024.
A booklet highlighting the 'dangers of e-waste' to mark Green Action Week 2024.
Today is #RefuseSingleUse day. #SingleUsePlastics give us the impression of saving time & effort...single use plastic cups, single use plastic straws, single use plastic bags. The list is endless. We need to change, & we need to start somewhere. So today, why not say 'no' to the plastic cups in your local tea stall? Ask them for a glass or metal one & be the start of something new.
#SayNoToPlastics #Reduce #ReUse #Recycle #Sustainability #Environment #COP27 #PlasticPollution #EndPlasticWaste #ZeroWaste #NewYearResolution #CAGChennai
A cycle and a loudspeaker accompany Ladoo as he makes his way around Chennai’s neighborhoods, gathering old clothes. He turns off his loudspeaker around certain homes. ‘They don’t like the noise’, he explains to me, as I stop him for a chat. Laddo has been in this business for twenty five years now. ‘In all this time, people have not changed’, he tells me philosophically. ‘Only my cycle and loudspeaker have’.
A couple of weeks ago, Durga and I set out to audit the waste generated at Dr. P. Venkataramana Higher Secondary School. The school is a major contributor to waste stockpiled at the Greenways community.
The primary objective of this project is to achieve the de-criminalization of waste-picking through the introduction of of Corporation of Chennai issued Identity Cards to waste pickers in Chennai city. This project is undertaken by CAG as part of the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers, and Chennai’s Future, which CAG anchors.
Informal waste workers, referred to as rag pickers or waste pickers form the backbone of waste recycling in the city. They provide an invaluable service to the city as well as to the environment by diverting large amount of wastes from landfills towards recycling. However, due to archaic provisions in the Corporation of Chennai Act, that have remain unchanged since 1919, their source of livelihood is legally questionable. As a result they face constant harassment from the authorities. Additionally, the work itself carries with it a social stigma, making waste pickers amonst the most vulnerable of the urban poor.