Vile Parle's Devangini Society goes the extra mile to completely adopt waste segregation and vermicomposting
Terms like zero garbage, waste segregation and the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle lifestyle has been trending for a while now. Recently, we saw the PM bring together both celebrities and commoners, to join hands to keep the nation clean. Even the BMC insists on reduction, reusing and segregation of waste.
Unfortunately, only a handful of people follow the system of waste segregation, despite it being a law. According to the Municipal Solid Waste Collection Bylaw 2006, MMC Act section 368, it is the duty of every individual to keep separate bins for dry waste and wet waste.
However, there are some who have taken segregation of waste to a new level. An inspiring story is that of Vile Parle's Devangini Society, who have adopted waste segregation and all the society members religiously follow it.
Satish Kolvankar, member of the society, explains, "Separation has to be at source as it becomes difficult for the civic body to segregate garbage when it's in huge chunk. Hence the society has taken this step to ease the pressure on the BMC."
The members of the society have kept separate bins in their respective homes for clean papers, clean plastic and flowers used for religious offerings. When these bins are full, the waste is categorically transferred to the society trash bins, which are kept in the society compound. Apart from this, there's also a huge bin kept especially to collect e-waste. This is given away to E-Incarnation Recycling Pvt. Ltd. (ERPL), an organisation that specialises in this segment.
Uma Naik, another member of the society, shares, "We keep aside food waste in specially modified dustbins. These bins have proper ventilation so that it does not emit foul smell."
This society has trained their sweepers to convert the waste into vermicompost. There are three dedicated spots within the premises of the society, where vermicomposting takes place. The sweepers take a chunk of the waste and put it in the vermicomposting spot, covering it with gunny bags post which the procedure starts.
Ketan Shah, Secretary, Vile Parle's Devangini Society, says, "After two months, the highly rich soil is ready as manure, which are sold to the members who have plants at home."
A beaming Naik, says, "We started this in May 2013 and now, it has become a habit. We love the concept. In fact, even when guests come to my place, they become conscious about waste segregation and inquire before using the home bin."
In this 10-storey building, around 90 per cent members have made this a part of their daily routine. The members believe that waste segregation should be adopted by everyone. This takes little work, less money and no tech know-how, and can be learnt by any one.
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