Mumbai: Bandra Reclamation is set to become a zero-waste area. Under a two-year-old initiative, subsidised compost pits are being built in housing societies and maintained through corporate social responsibility funds. Organisers -- voluntary groups in the area -- claim they have prevented 81 garbage trucks from going to the dumping grounds annually. A project report will be unveiled on Friday.
In 2016, Bandra Reclamation Area Volunteers Organisation (BRAVO) along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Stree Mukti Sanghatna (SMS) took up a project to make Bandra Reclamation zero-waste. The idea was to ensure no wet waste went outside the area while dry waste was recycled.
“When we decided to take this up, we were hoping there would be segregation at the household-level. But we realised there was not enough awareness. So we had to start from what constitutes wet and dry waste. Volunteers had to go door to door to ask people to segregate,” said Vidya Vaidya, trustee of BRAVO and a resident of Bandra Reclamation. The project works on a subsidy model. The organisers received funding from Bajaj Electricals Ltd., and then approached societies and establishments and offered them waste management solutions (compost pits, rotating drums, community composting, baskets, shredders for green waste) After this, a memorandum of understanding was signed with all the interested societies wherein organisers would install the technology.
They would bear almost 60-65% of the project cost and provide the services of SMS volunteers for free. The volunteers imparted training to representatives of societies and have even been monitoring progress. In two years, they installed 23 compost pits in Reclamation as well as Mount Mary, gave 85 training sessions, performed 15 street plays to create awareness, and conducted waste audits in 16 societies.
Organisers estimate that they have managed to process 1.34 tonnes of wet waste every day, or 488 tonnes of waste annually. The east and west blocks of Reclamation have become zero-waste, they said. “When we ask people to undertake segregation, this is exactly what we expect. This is a model for all of Mumbai,” said Sharad Ughade, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, H West ward.
However, many establishments in the area have not become zero-waste yet as they have no space to do composting. Organisers want to come out with a model for those as well.
