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 are being introduced in Kasturba Nagar and several apartments will be given (PtP) hooks to segregate and store their multi-layer plastic waste. The compost from the lane composters will be distributed among residents and feed 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 will be sent for recycling through waste aggregators.

Although still in the initial phase, the project has already received tremendous support from the Greater Chennai Corporation, Urbaser Sumeet, Kasturba Nagar volunteers and residents. .And in the long term, the project team envisions transforming Kasturba Nagar as a Near Zero Waste demonstration ward achieved through strong civic, government, academic and private collaboration which can be scaled up to the entire city.