We Segregate

The Urban Ocean program, a world wide initiative to end plastic pollution and build more resilient communities in cities is being implemented in Chennai by Okapi Research and Advisory and Chennai Resilience Centre. As a follow up to two years of rigorous research including extensive stakeholder consultations, the We Segregate project was developed and launched on 11 th October 2023 in collaboration with the Residents of Kasturbanagar Association (ROKA), The Resilient Cities Network and The Circulate Initiative in Kasturba Nagar, Adyar.

The goal of the project is to promote source segregation among residents using lane composters and punch-the-plastic (PtP) hooks. Three lane composters were introduced in Kasturba Nagar and several apartments were given (PtP) hooks to segregate and store their multi-layer plastic waste. The compost from the lane composters were distributed among residents and fed into an urban farming program implemented by the Chennai Resilience Centre which is actively promoting & helping residents in the neighbourhood to set up and maintain organic vegetable gardens. While the collected MLP is being sent for recycling through waste aggregators.

In just 6 months, the project has already received tremendous support from the Greater Chennai Corporation, Urbaser Sumeet, Kasturba Nagar volunteers and residents. Diverting over 300 kgs of soft plastic and 4700 kgs of wet waste in this short period, the project team envision a complete transformation of Kasturba Nagar into a Near Zero Waste demonstration ward that can be scaled up to the entire city.