Sweeping up the streets isn't the only way you can contribute to the Clean India campaign. In fact, you can even do it sitting at home. How? By using a number of techniques like composting and segregation to reduce waste before it is sent to the city's already overflowing dumping grounds.
The Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Sanitation, Cleanliness and Community Health (MGC), in a collaborative effort with the Observer Research Foundation and Santacruz-based NGO Triratna Prerna Mandal, organised an exhibition showcasing such solutions for decentralised solid waste management as part of the Swachh Mumbai for Swachh Bharat Week (November 13 to 19). You can learn how to reduce waste by attending this exhibition, which started on Saturday and will be on till Sunday at the Dharmaveer Sambhaji Maidan between 10 am and 4 pm. The event was attended by approximately 200-250 people comprising school and college students among others.
According to members of the MGC, the exhibition was organised to spread awareness on decentralised waste management through simple techniques. "In many cases, daily household organic waste can be processed at the home, building or neighbourhood level, eliminating the need to transport the waste over long distances to dumping grounds," said Rishi Agarwal, a member of the organising team.
The exhibitors, comprising of Paryavaran Dakshata Manch, E- Incarnation, Stree Mukti Sangathana, Kalpataru Vermicompost, Devangini Nisarga Mandal, Mumbai Goes Green among others, demonstrated a variety of simple and innovative initiatives. The Devangini Nisarga Mandal demonstrated how a community of 30 people, over a time period of one and a half years, were able to reduce waste sent to the municipal collection system by 75 per cent using simple methods of waste segregation and composting. Satish Kolvankar, member of the mandal, said, "The garbage problem can only be solved once everybody comes together."
"At a time when Mumbai is facing a serious problem of disposing its waste in dumping grounds, the BMC needs to seriously consider decentralized solutions at all levels, whether through individual home initiatives or large scale commercial set-ups," said Agarwal.
"Considering the successful response to the exhibition, the Mahatma Gandhi Centre has urged the BMC to turn this into a mobile exhibition that can be replicated at various locations across the city for creating greater awareness," said Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of Mahatma Gandhi Centre.
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