CHENNAI: In the last ten days, city corporation workers have collected 218 tonnes of garbage from beneath the Broken Bridge at the mouth of the Adyar. The rain-swollen river had spewed the city’s detritus: empty liquor bottles, footwear, plastic and wood.
Environmentalists warn that preventing marine pollution does not end with just clearing out the garbage. They want a ban on plastics. Satyarupa Shekhar, Asia-Pacific coordinator for Break Free From Plastic, said preventing disposal of plastic waste or clearing it will just be a quick-fix solution. “Even if the plastic waste does not get into the sea, it needs to be discarded through other ways which will still cause pollution. If we want better solutions on water body pollution, we have to place accountability on fossil fuel companies and the carbon majors,” she said.
The Union government, in a recent amendment of the Plastic Waste Management Act, 2021, has prohibited single-use plastic from July 1, 2022.
Greater Chennai Corporation deputy commissioner (health) Dr. Manish Narnaware, said “We will be resuming the plastic raids soon and we will go at the big players to put an end to this.”
This large accumulation of plastic at the Adyar mouth also highlights how much the city’s water bodies have been polluted. “This high accumulation of garbage can also be a reason for severe inundation of the southern suburbs. It will block the flow of water and delay the draining,” said Dayanand Krishnan, a civil engineer, and GIS consultant.
He said even if it goes to sea, the waves will throw it back to shore polluting the coastal area. “All the panchayats outside city limits connected with Adyar river should have covered stormwater drains so waste does not go inside,” he added.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/chennai-over-200-tonnes-of-garbage-cleared-from-broken-bridge/articleshow/88082773.cms
