Solid waste management remains one of the most pressing challenges of major urban centres. Tamil Nadu, however, has emerged as a national model in this management, generating revenue of ₹4.30 crore through initiatives linked to waste festival.
Referring to this achievement, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said in a post on his X handle that a high-level review meeting was held at the Secretariat on Wednesday to assess the steps taken so far under the cleanliness drive and the outcomes of the waste festival.
Waste Festival
Through the waste festival, more than 13,400 local bodies across Tamil Nadu, 14,160 waste aggregators, and 1.25 lakh women from self-help groups came together to collect 1,411 tonnes of segregated dry waste, preventing it from ending up in landfills. Combined with waste already collected from over 90,000 government offices, the material gathered through this initiative has generated revenue of ₹4.30 crore. The waste festival will now be held every month.
“With the larger objective of creating a clean Tamil Nadu free from accumulated waste, the initiatives undertaken by the Dravidian Model government under the leadership of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will continue unabated,” the X post said.
Special initiative
According to a press release issued in this regard, a review meeting on the implementation of cleanliness drive projects under the Special Programme Implementation Department was held under the chairmanship of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. Acting on the Chief Minister’s directive to ensure comprehensive cleanliness across the State and to put in place effective waste management systems, the cleanliness drive is being implemented by the Special Programme Implementation Department.
As part of the cleanliness drive, a large-scale operation was undertaken in the first phase to clean government offices across the State, including the Chennai Secretariat. The initiative involved the systematic collection of a wide range of waste materials, such as plastic waste, electronic waste, metal scrap, paper waste, glass waste, and unusable wooden furniture.
Dry waste
Subsequently, waste materials were collected across Tamil Nadu through the “Waste Festival” held from January 12 to January 25, 2026. The initiative saw the participation of over 13,400 local bodies, 14,160 waste aggregators, and 1.25 lakh women from self-help groups. As a result, 1,411 tonnes of segregated dry waste were collected across the State, preventing these materials from being dumped in landfills.
Revenue in crores
Waste collected earlier through drives conducted in over 90,000 government offices, together with the material gathered during the waste festival, has generated revenue of more than ₹4.30 crore. Going forward, the waste festival will be organised every month, with the objective of creating public awareness and encouraging citizens to segregate waste at source and collectively contribute to building a clean and sustainable Tamil Nadu.
Senior officials present
The high-level review meeting was attended by several senior officials, including Secretary N. Muruganandam, IAS; Additional Chief Secretary, Special Programme Implementation Department, Pradeep Yadav, IAS; Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, IAS; Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Dr. T. Karthikeyan, IAS; Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation, J. Kumaragurubaran, IAS; Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, P. Ponniah, IAS; Director of Municipal Administration, P. Madhusudhan Reddy, IAS; and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women and the Clean Tamil Nadu Company, R. V. Shajeevana, IAS, along with other government officials.
