Schools in TN directed to keep separate bins for plastics, e-waste

CHENNAI: All high and higher secondary schools in the State, including private institutions, have been asked to keep exclusive bins within the campus to collect plastics and electronic waste.

The Directorate of School Education has made it mandatory for all the high and higher secondary schools to have separate bins to collect plastics. The move has come against the backdrop of a request by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to instruct school managements to have separate bins to collect these wastes.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that the move is in sequel to the Greater Chennai Corporation advising the public not to throw away plastics items and instead hand them over to local bodies for recycling.

Stating that TNPCB has already created awareness among the students about the implications of plastics usage, the official said the students would now be aware of collection and segregation of plastics waste. “Therefore, all the schools have been instructed to keep two 250 litre capacity bins exclusively to collect plastics and e-waste,” he said, adding that the collected waste would be handed over to the local bodies or e-waste recyclers.

The official said the list of e-waste recyclers were sent to the schools so that it would be convenient for the management to handover the waste. “Private schools will have to purchase the bins on their own, while government schools will get the bins at free of cost,” he added.

“In addition, district coordinators of eco clubs, National Green Corps and Scouts, who were imparted training by TNPCB on salient features of waste management, will also help the students for the effective implementation of the ban on use of single use plastics,” the official said.

Officials from the district education office would monitor all the schools to ensure that the TNPCB initiative is implemented properly, he added.