ROKA - Residents of Kasturbanagar Association

20/02/2026

It's time for *ROKA's 12th collection drive*!

An arena to take part in climate action and to consume and dispose responsibly! Do bring your dry waste and fill the below form if you would like to volunteer with us:

https://tinyurl.com/RokaDriveFebMar2026

Date: Saturday, Feb 28th and Sunday, March 1st
Time: 9 am to 4 pm

Do share this poster far and wide so it reaches more people. More details in the attached poster!

16/12/2025

16/07/2025

Lovely time with the children

Posted • Compost, Conversations & Curiosity: A Garden trip with

On Monday this week, students from the Bodhana & Learning Tree Montessori visited the sustainable waste management ecosystem that has been in operation in Adyar. Their first stop was the Chennai High School at Kamaraj Avenue where they witnessed the first closed loop comprising of CHUGG - a food waste treatment plant (by and ), a rooftop organic garden and the school's kitchen. CHUGG processes the food waste from the kitchen and produces bio-gas and a slurry. The gas is then used for cooking in the school kitchen and the slurry is used as a rich fertilizer for the rooftop garden (by ) which in turn provides organic greens/veggies for the childrens' consumption.

Their next stop was at Kasturba Nagar to participate in the We Segregate project’s compost harvest session. The students were taken through the waste collection, processing and recycling / utilisation circle taking place under the We Segregate project’s efforts. They were then given an opportunity to get their hands dirty by helping to harvest, sieve and pack the fresh compost. During the sieving process, they helped pick out contaminants like plastic which also prompted discussions surrounding waste segregation.

As always, our gratitude to for their support in making the We Segregate initiative possible!

28/01/2025

City’s massive collection drive is here. ROKA’s 10th waste collection drive is happening on the 1 & 2nd February at the KNRA hall in adyar and 5 other locations open to public. Use this opportunity to be part of a movement to make sure our waste is disposed and processed responsibly. Share in all groups that you are part of and volunteer with us.

1. KNRA Hall, Adyar

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ytdEhYCvHBp58xsP7?g_st=ac

2. SOWA, Chinna Neelangarai

https://goo.gl/maps/YxbcZpMPA9Hpj4EdA

3. Corporation park, Kotturpuram (Nawab Garden Association)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/S15DYVBWtdnTH5q97?g_st=ac

4. The Public gym, Sivagamipuram, Thiruvanmiyur (RMSM association)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BjsSdw7Q3hTfhBaP6?g_st=ac

5. On Axis Green Consulting, Velachery

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dp9gPsrfbf2jhXm8A?g_st=ac

6. Spreco recycling, West Tambaram

https://maps.app.goo.gl/PT975zgqMPU8RKN68?g_st=ac

22/12/2024

Thanks Urbaser Sumeet for organizing this meeting.

15/12/2024

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/roka-rewinds-through-a-watershed-year/article68985160.ece
We didn’t realize 2024 had offered us so much to do, until we had to put it all together for a special anniversary article for The Hindu Downtown article on Dec 15th. There is more that we have missed to mention and there is so much more that each one of us can do to lessen the load on our environment, isn’t it ?
We close 2024 and are already beginning our work for 2025 with the same energy, enthusiasm and hope that we had in 2018. Thank you for covering our work since 2019:).

09/12/2024

Another afternoon well spent. There is hope when 6th and 7th standard kids are aware of EPR and the great pacific garbage dump. We showed them ways to be sustainable, we showed them how to say no to what they don't need and they showed us that there is hope..

On the other side EFI Environmentalist Foundation of India with their LakeonWheels vehicle made waves (and showed kids how to keep these waves clean) and addressed the junior school.

Great thanks to Namo sir for initiating the conversation with Hindu Senior Secondary School, as always gratitude to the CI and animator of the zone for their presence and support, the school management for enabling the session.

09/12/2024

Don’t let go of any opportunity to talk about source segregation of waste which is essentially solid waste management and sustainability, which could be as simple as avoiding all possible single-use plastics (even it is “eco-friendly”) wherever you get space and audience.
Last Saturday we were at to do exactly the same things that we have been doing for 6 years now, make noise ( we literally made noise at WCC by calling the college kids to visit our stall😂) around individual actions’ impact on environmental issues. We added a lot of fun elements to the show that day.

18/11/2024

There is COP 29 happening on one side of the globe already and there is, the Global Plastics treaty starting on Nov 22nd at Busan, South Korea. So what do these mean to commoners like us or let’s say volunteers/RWAs/Communities working on environment, solid waste management and sustainability. Our big thanks to Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) for bringing in different stakeholders( NGOs, conservancy workers, MSMEs, volunteers, RWAs & others) in the city on one platform, putting their thoughts and suggestions together and take it to Busan. The Hindu Downtown article covers well, the points we, FOMRA,Bhuvana Raj put forth for consideration at the treaty. Now we keep our fingers crossed 🤞🏻 and hope for the best.

06/11/2024

Somethin’s cookin’….stay tuned and take a guess

06/11/2024

We go with couple of slides to talk about waste management and sustainability, and guess what…..the 6th graders were a super energetic, well-informed kids, that we just stopped with the first slide and turned into a more of brain-storming session on ‘how an individual can or cannot contribute to climate change’. That one plus hour just zoomed.

18/10/2024

https://p.dw.com/p/4ldlW

ROKA’s work since 2018 is beautifully covered in this short documentary by DW Eco-India DW NewsDW Environment .
Deutsche Welle, which is a German public broadcaster that provides news and information in 32 languages. DW's goal is to promote understanding and the exchange of ideas among different cultures and peoples.
This is a fine example of how collective individual actions can lead to a community level initiative to fight climate change.
More work and more stories to make:).
Janani VenkiteshSaranya PalanichamiSwathi RamananLekha GanduriHema MinakshiVidhya Padmanabhan

A women-led initiative is encouraging the public to properly collect, separate and recycle their waste. They even organize collection drives and promote composting so everyone does their bit.