Chief Secretary stresses the importance of waste segregation at home

Chief Secretary emphasizes waste segregation, recycling, and cleanliness at Swachh Andhra-Swachh Divas rally in Vijayawada.

Every citizen should take responsibility for the cleanliness of one’s surroundings, segregate waste at home, and contribute to converting waste into wealth by ensuring proper recycling of wet and dry waste, said Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand.

Flagging off a rally as part of the Swachh Andhra-Swachh Divas programme, organised by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at Rajiv Nagar in Vijayawada on February 15, Saturday, Mr. Vijayanand said the programme, conducted by the Andhra Pradesh government, should be implemented with a well-structured plan.

While interacting with residents, he explained the importance of three-coloured waste bins. Later, the Chief Secretary visited a VMC stall that demonstrated the process of waste segregation at home.

The stall was set up to raise awareness among the public about the three bins. The green bin is used for the collection of wet waste such as vegetable and fruit peels, dried leaves, flowers, leftover food, wet paper, and tissue paper. The blue bin is for dry waste, including plastic covers, containers, water bottles, milk packets, newspapers, and similar recyclable materials and the red bin is used for hazardous waste like used masks, diapers, sanitary napkins, blood-stained clothes, sanitary tissue paper, syringes, needles, and broken glass bottles.

The Chief Secretary also inspected stalls showcasing various activities, including fogging, spraying, drone spraying, and anti-larval, conducted by the VMC to prevent mosquito-borne diseases. He also visited a special stall highlighting the ban on single-use plastics.

VMC Commissioner H.M. Dhyanachandra said the corporation is distributing three types of bins to its residents for proper segregation and added that stringent measures are being taken to enforce the ban on single-use plastics, prohibiting plastic items below 120 microns.

Additional Commissioner (Projects) D. Chandrasekhar, Chief City Planner G.V.G.S.V. Prasad, In-charge Chief Medical Health Officer Suresh Babu, Joint Director Latha, Executive Engineer Srinivas Reddy, Assistant Medical Health Officer Babu Srinivas, Biologist Surya Naik, and several sanitation staff members were present among the occasion.