Wet Waste Handling
Dec 01
The day witnessed a new dimension in the Public Private Partnership between the Coonoor Municipality and Clean Coonoor. The previous Memorandum of Understanding hitherto confined activities to dry waste handling alone. According to a new MoU signed between the two parties Clean Coonoor will handle the more difficult forms of compostable organic wastes, that which are usually considered as troublesome and difficult to compost, such as poultry and fish wastes, fibrous wastes like banana leaves and stems, tender coconut husks and such.
Where the grass grows wild, where the winds blow free!
Nov 13
The eco-restoration area in the waste management facility after 4 months.
Two Years of Solid Waste Management
Oct 30
“We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories. And those that carry us forward are dreams.”
H. G. Wells
As on date, a couple of years have rolled by since the inception of the Resource Recovery Centre at Ottupattarai. A total 16,84,743 kgs of municipal dry waste have been handled as on date, of which 7,18,209 have been identified as recyclables and sent to processing units, and the rest have been safely disposed as per TNPCB norms. In addition livelihoods for two score individuals have been created. Coonoor Municipality and Clean Coonoor extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those who made this possible.
Honouring the Tools of One’s Trade
Oct 15
Ayudha Puja Celebrations at the Waste Management Park at Ottupattarai!
New Addition at Eco-Restoration Area of the Waste Management Park
Oct 05
The Neel Kurinji which goes under the binomial of Strobilanthes kunthiana. The species name is in honour of Karl Sigismund Kunth, German Botanist, and not after the Kunthipuzha which flows In Kerala as commonly believed.
Hope to see it in full bloom in 2033
Gandhi Jayanthi
Oct 02
“I call scavenging as one of the most honourable among occupations of mankind, as a mother to child and doctor to a patient.”
Thus spoke the Mahatma at Ottupattarai in Coonoor on 3 February 1934. To mark the birth anniversary of the Great Soul, Clean Coonoor along with the Forest Department, held a cleanup along the stretch of road leading from Sim’s Park to the Forest Rest House. The effort may be small, but “Little Things” are those that, “Help to make earth happy / Like the Heaven above.”
World Cleanup Day
Sep 18
It all began in the small northern European country of Estonia, in 2008, fifty-thousand people united to clean up the entire country in just five hours. On that day, a global bottom-up civic movement was born and spread like wildfire around the globe. This captured the imaginations of people worldwide, who were inspired to follow suit with the same ambitious ‘one country, one-day’ formula.
To mark this day, Clean Coonoor held a cleanup along the 5 km badly trashed up stretch of the Bandishola – Halakkarai Road. The event involved the active participation of students from Rotaract Providence College, Coonoor, and other volunteers. The Forest Department and the concerned Local Bodies also lent a helping hand.
To prevent future dumping along this vulnerable stretch, and as a first measure in rural expansion in solid waste management, Clean Coonoor inaugurated two Rural Dry-Waste Collection Centres, one at Bellattimattam and another at Halakkarai. The Panchayat Union-Coonoor has put at our disposal two of its buildings for the purpose of sorting and storage of dry waste which will be later disposed as per Pollution Control norms. The centres will be manned by personal appointed by Clean Coonoor, and will take in dry-waste from the nearby villages, gated communities and individual homesteads, and we sincerely hope to extend this Public-Private Partnership to other rural settings around Coonoor in a stepwise manner.
Awareness Programme for Tiny Tots
Aug 20
Clean Coonoor teamed up with Astitva, an organisation working amongst the indigenous people of these hills, to impart knowledge on safe disposal of waste to children belonging to the hamlet of Kurumbadi. The highlight of the day were the songs that were sung, for tribal lays have a unique charm, the lyrics being closely linked with nature.
Rural Expansion
Aug 14
“So long as you do not take the broom and the bucket in your hand, you-cannot make your towns and cities clean.”
In tune with the sentiments echoed by the Father of the Nation a few decades earlier, Clean Coonoor on the Eve of this year’s Independence Day, is happy to announce that it will be commencing operations of safe garbage disposal in rural areas.
The project will take off in a limited way involving 2 villages belonging to Yedapalli and Burliyar Panchayats, Halacarai & Belhatti Mattam both covering approximately 500 habitations. The District Administration and concerned Local Bodies have placed at our disposal 2 sheds for collection, resegregation and storage of dry waste. The shed at Belhatti Mattam has been put up by the local body, for this very purpose and needs a little renovation chiefly the flooring. The other was a dilapidated toilet which has now been converted into a mini Rural RRC, along with a platform to house a 200 kg burner. The entire cost has been borne by the Gram Panchayat concerned.
The two collection centres will also serve as dry-waste drop off points for the individual villas located within their vicinity.
We are also working with Project ASTITVA for garbage collection from 4 tribal hamlets near Burliyar.
Clean Coonoor hopes to expand this venture in the near future, and also hopes to get the villagers and other residents interested in community & home composting in a bid to tackle wet waste and garden waste.
Local Solutions to Screen Microplastics
Jul 23
The chief problem faced by the Waste Management Facility in sorting of waste was that of microplastics. Under the present method of using a sorting trough, it is estimated that for every tonne of dry waste handled 10-20 kg of microplastics inadvertently escapes into the environs. Suman & Sunil Goyal who are involved in tea manufacture came up with the idea of using a high speed sifter and a slow moving conveyor, a process used in tea production, for more effective separation. A big thanks to the large hearted couple who generously donated such a piece of equipment to the centre.
…….let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth!
Jul 09
We appreciate the efforts of a daily wager who wishes to remain anonymous, who volunteered to clean up this ugly pile up of bottles near a temple in a no mans land on the Singara road single handedly. Thank you kind heart, you have proved time and again that wonderful souls do exist.
The Best Possible Citation
Jun 26
Straight from the heart of a 9 year old!!
Thank you Prathu for this 
World Environment Day – Ecosystem Restoration
Jun 05
Leo Tolstoy is known to have remarked, “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.”
It was with this intent that the Coonoor Municipality, Clean Coonoor, The Wynter-Blyth Association, INTACH Nilgiri Chapter, and Upstream Ecology came up with the idea of restoring a portion of the Waste Management Park to its original state, to mark this year’s World Environment Day.
It is said that it’s much easier it to ruin an ecosystem than to run one, but yet, the latter is worth an attempt. The chosen spot has been cleared of rank vegetation and planted over with native tussocky grass, native shrubs, and a few native trees. A butterfly garden has also been laid down with the guidance provided by The Wynter-Blyth Association.
It is hoped to extend the operations over an acre stretch before the end of the monsoons.
Summer of ’21
Apr 24
“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.”
Minnie Aumonier
Planning Ahead
Mar 11
Meeting with Monitoring officer and Collector today exploring possibilities on setting up a pyrolysis unit at Coonoor.
Tree Planting at the Waste Management Facility
Feb 26
Presided by the Principal secretary & CEO of Indcoserve and Monitoring officer – Ms. Supriya Sahu IAS and The District Collector – Ms. Innocent Divya IAS a massive tree planting drive was conducted by the Sri Jain Navyuvak Sangh, Coonoor, at the waste management facility. Both officials also and honoured the workers and interacted with them at length.
Project SAHARA
Feb 25
Project Sahara was an unique concept of many NGOs joining hands during Covid-19 to help migrant labour and the lesser haves It culminated with honouring our sanitary staff, who were our frontline warriors today with mementos personally handed over by The Collector Nilgiris and lunch. Thank you ma’am!
Coonoor thanks all her generous donors from far and wide
Providence Radiance
Feb 17
A trip to solid Waste Management Park in Vasampllam, Ottupattrai was organised by Mr. Sivalingan the co-ordinator of Institution for Innovation Council. Students of IIC club as well as the interested students from various departments along with Dr. Rose de Leema, Associate professor from Botany department had visited the unit. Dr.Vasanthan in charge of Solid waste management park briefed about the establishment of the unit and different related activities which has been successfully progressing since 2014 along with NGO organisation of Clean Coonoor. He explained elaborately on handling various solid waste grading methods and the end products after processing and recycling. The students were shown machinery installed for compression and modification of assorted wastes. He told about the challenges faced by the workers in collecting and recycling the wastes. He urged the students to create more awareness in college and in society about managing the wastes and to minimise the usage of non-degradable materials to protect our environment. The trip was a great opportunity for the students to witness in person the difficulties and the hardships maintaining the wastes including the responsibilities to keep our surroundings clean. Witnessing it first hand had a great impact among students by inspiring them to reduce and recycle wastes by using innovative methods. The students have become more aware and responsible as the visit had ignited a spark in their spirits towards the cause.
New Year Greetings
Jan 01
A Year in Retrospect!