Donated clothes, now your turn, says British diplomat on Chandigarh’s civic body initiative

Chandigarh, July 21 (IANS) Advocating to adapt the principles of three 'Rs' -- reduce, reuse and recycle, British Deputy High Commissioner Caroline Rowett has donated personal items to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation-run RRR or 3R centre here, where residents can voluntarily give their household articles and they will be further sold after cleaning at Re 1 for reuse.

The 3R collection centre in Sector 17 is open daily, except Mondays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In a video message on Friday, the Deputy High Commissioner said: “A great initiative by the Municipal Corporation to reduce, reuse and recycle. So I came here today to drop off some clothes and other household things that I don’t want. These will be checked and will be sold at Re 1 each to those in need.

“I think it is really a great initiative. It takes the rubbish out of the rubbish dump and puts it to good use. So I brought six bags along. So please come and your turn to recycle your own clothes and other household goods here and put them for a good use for other people. So a great initiative by the Municipal Corporation.”

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Anindita Mitra told IANS that the household articles can also be collected at doorsteps through “Swachh Sawari” -- mobile RRR vans, besides the permanent centre opened in Sector 17 in June.

“We clean and refurbish items before we hand them over to the buyers,” she said.

And who are the buyers, the Commissioner said: “Anyone can buy a maximum of five items per Aadhaar card from RRR stores. No one other than the poor normally comes to buy them.

“RRR stands for reduce, recycle, reuse and that is what the Municipal Corporation is trying to do. We set up 35 temporary RRR stores in each ward in May. Thereafter, an incredible response from citizens of Chandigarh, we decided to set up a permanent RRR store in Sector 17, near the Smart City Office. The goods and items collected are then provided at a cost of Re 1 at our rupee store which we set up for two days in areas which require them.

“We have successfully run two such stores in Dhanas and Mauli Jagran. The next one was opened in Sunder Nagar on Friday."

As per the civic body, a total of 5,464 items have been collected at the collection centres usable items like clothes, shoes, books, stationery, crockery, toys, e-waste, wooden items and furniture.

Self-help groups and sanitation workers have been deployed to look after the day-to-day operations and management of the collection centre.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com)

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