The 11-day Ganesh festival left the city with 200 metric tonne (MT) of waste last year. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) expects this figure to soar as the number of idols has risen by almost 10%.
The 11-day Ganesh festival left the city with 200 metric tonne (MT) of waste last year. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) expects this figure to soar as the number of idols has risen by almost 10%.
To tackle the unkempt look the city dons after the festivity is over, the BMC’s solid waste management (SWM) cell has deployed 1,100 vehicles to collect nirmalya (floral offerings) from 12,089 Ganesh mandals and housing societies.
“On an average, each ward will have 45 vehicles to collect waste during the festival. These vehicles will also have a public address system to request people to hand over the nirmalya,” said BP Patil, chief engineer, SWM cell, BMC.
The civic body has placed 180 nirmalya kalash at 80 immersion sites in the city, 27 of which are along the shoreline. “Special checks will be undertaken to monitor effective dumping of nirmalya,” added Patil.
Going green this season, the SWM has also marked out nine sites for composting nirmalya. The BMC has roped in advance locality management (ALM) units to help them with the task.
“Major immersion sites such as Girgaon Chowpatty and Dadar Chowpatty generate most nirmalya. With the help of various ALMs, the task of composting nirmalya can be handled effectively,” said Seema Redkar, officer on special duty (OSD) for this ALM programme.
For the past nine years, Pestom Sagar Resident Association (PSRA) has been vermi-composting nirmalya. “Forty MT of nirmalya is treated every year in vermiculture pits. The manure produced is used in gardens and open spaces.” said Dr Vijay Sanghole, president of PSRA.
Orchid ALM trust has been composting nirmalya with a similar process at the Gorai dumping ground. “Eighty MT of nirmalya from Dahisar to Malad is disintegrated here, generating 25 MT of manure,” said Ashok Mam, an executive from Orchid Hotel.
Tejpal Scheme Rahivasi Sangh, an ALM from Vile Parle (East), has adopted a garden in Andheri (East) to compost festival leftovers. “We segregate biodegradable waste from the nirmalya kalash and process it with aerobic bacteria culture powder,” said Pratibha Belwalkar, president of the ALM.
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