Chennai, Feb 28: In a focused effort to prevent floating waste from entering Chennai’s waterbodies and protect the city’s drainage and coastal ecosystems, HDB Financial Services (HDBFS), in collaboration with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), has launched the Trash Shield initiative at Buckingham Canal through the installation of innovative trash barriers and community-led waste management interventions.

In collaboration with local civic bodies and community stakeholders, the collected waste is manually removed at regular intervals, segregated, and transported to approved Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for safe disposal, recycling, and sorting. This ensures waste does not re-enter the ecosystem while strengthening local waste management systems through structured recovery processes.

The initiative aims to achieve an estimated 50% reduction in visible floating waste pollution at targeted locations, enable the collection of 80–100 tonnes of floating waste annuallyand improve water quality parameters by around 30%supporting the restoration of aquatic biodiversity. Additionally, by reducing drain blockages caused by floating waste accumulation, the initiative contributes to lowering flood risk and enhancing the resilience of Chennai’s urban water infrastructure.

The Trash Shield initiative has been rolled out across multiple locations in India, with canal and waterbody restoration projects already executed across Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.