The NSEF Blog

The Nirmalya Recycling Project

The term ‘Nirmalya’ connotes the offerings that have been made during a pooja or a ritual. These could include sweets, coconuts, fruits, cloth, camphor, garlands etc.

Background:

For the past three years, eCoexist has been collaborating with the NGO Waste Matters and the rag pickers cooperative SWACH, to coordinate a project that addresses the issue of ‘Nirmalya’.

During Ganesh Chaturthi a large quantity of ‘Nirmalya’ is generated and the tradition has been to immerse these offerings along with the Ganesh idol into the river.  In recent years, citizens of Pune, encouraged by the Pune Municipal Authorities have been ensuring that the nirmalya is not put into the river, rather collected in waste bins provided by the PMC (Pune Municipal Co-orporation) alongside the river.

The amount of nirmalya goes into several tonnes and managing this ‘waste’ is a challenge for the government.  The Nirmalya Recycling Project was initiated to sensitise citizens towards the need to handle the nirmalya with respect and segregate the materials at  the source.

Goals:

It involves the following:

1. Awareness raising and public outreach.
2. Collection and segregation of nirmalya into various materials– separating biodegradable from non biodegradable.
3. Recycling of materials appropriately.
4. Collection of flowers and garlands.
5. Transportation to Yerawada jail for further recycling into dried flower products.

The funds from the Government enabled us to expand the scale of our work as well as provide the women with all the tools they needed.

Income generating activity for women rag pickers of SWACH:

Eight women are posted at each Ghat, three on day one and five on day two. These women are provided with buckets, crates, gloves and raincoats. Their role consists of collecting the plastic bag filled with nirmalya from the public; opening and segregating the contents into separate materials.

From the materials collected dry waste such as paper, plastic and cloth was taken by the women and recycled in the normal system of recycling from which they earn their money. Food waste including coconuts and fruits are also given to them; either resell or consume it themselves. Flowers in good condition are collected to be handed over to the Yerawada jail or taken to the SWACH kachra depot for recycling. Leaves and other natural waste are put into the PMC containers to be taken away for compost.

Arrangements at the Ghats:

The waste collection arrangement at the Ghats has three elements to it:

1. The large PMC containers
2. The Nirmalya kalash provided by the PMC
3. The SWACH teams

The SWACH teams were made to stand in front of the kalashes and they tried to ensure that waste was segregated before it went into the PMC container.

Collection of flowers:

The segregation and collection of flowers face several challenges. These included

1. The rains make everything wet and therefore the degradation becomes faster.
2. The flowers packed in plastic sacks cannot be left on the Ghats to be picked up the next day. This is not advisable because the heat and moisture further degrades the flowers overnight.
3. People bringing the Nirmalya also brought flowers that have already been kept for ten days and were in fairly bad condition.

The following points are the main aspects that need to be considered:

1. Location of the tanks, visibility and access: The tanks need to be clearly visible and accessible – preferably directly on the path to the river.
2. If this is not the case, then there needs to be clear and large signage directing the people to the tank.
3. Concern about how the idols are handled after the visarjan : The collection of the idols after visarjan from the immersion tanks needs to be managed respectfully so people’s sentiments are respected.
4. Collection of  ‘valu’ – the mud from the bottom of the river: Some sand from the bottom of the river needs to be made available at the tanks so people can take this home after the visarjan.
5. Contradictory messages to the public from religious and environmental groups: A clear consolidated message needs to be given to the public – this has to combine respect for religious sentiment as well as the need to conserve nature.
6. Space to do aarti and possibility of the immersion by people themselves so they don’t have to pay anyone else to do it: Those groups of youth that are earning out of immersion into the river need to be given other tasks they can earn from.
7. Amount of water in the river – opening the gates of reservoirs to allow the waters to flow into the river: The water we have in our reservoirs is precious and needs to be stored for drinking and other basic purposes. Opening the reservoirs just to create a flow for Ganesh Chaturthi is unwise and should be discouraged.
8. Arrangements made by the government to either encourage or discourage people from doing an immersion in the river: Barricades to the approach to the river discourage people from going to the river and should be constructed both for security and environmental purposes.
9. Large scale educational activities through sensitisation programmes as well as leaflets to explain to people why it is necessary to keep the river free of immersions. The government needs to be centrally involved in such education and municipal officers, policemen stationed at the Ghats all need to support such activity.
10. Volunteers from public, NGOs and corporate groups should be invited to come to the ghats and jointly participate in ensuring the health and cleanliness of the river.

Training in recycling of flowers:

The flowers collected are recycled into dry flowers at the two locations: the female ward of Yerwada Prison and at the Kachra Depot at SWACH Office.

Training for the women of SWACH is carried out by eCoexist a few days prior to the commencement of the festival. The process of recycling involves separation of good flowers from degraded flowers, separation of petal from stem and drying of the petals. During the drying periodic turning of flowers and protection from moisture is needed.