Chennai Corporations plans to introduce specially-designed bags; move follows study by civic body

The Chennai Corporation has planned to replace garbage bins with specially-designed bags to facilitate better collection of refuse in the city. The new system is intended to prevent ragpickers from spoiling the area around a garbage bin, according to sources in the Chennai Corporation. A study by the civic body has found that ragpickers contribute to scattering of garbage on the roads. Most of the garbage being taken out of bins by thousands of ragpickers on a daily basis is strewn all around to facilitate easy identification of recyclable items in the garbage. The ragpickers fail to put the garbage back in the bins, thereby spoiling entire stretches on roads, the study had found.