Green Ganpati call works wonders Devotees ensure less waste was generated during the festival this year

Green Ganpati call works wonders

Devotees ensure less waste was generated during the festival this year

Repeated awareness campaigns about the need to celebrate the Ganesh festival in an eco-friendly manner seems to have helped. Thanks to greater awareness among people, the amount of waste disposed of this year during the festival is lesser compared to previous years. There are a couple of areas though where the city needs to improve — a lot of floral waste was generated this year while noise levels breached a 10-year record (see box). Officials from the civic body’s solid waste management (SWM) department said the quantity of thermocol, plastic, Plaster of Paris and cement concrete disposed of by devotees appears far lesser this year. The figure will be known in a day or two. “Last year, we had a tough time segregating the waste. However, thanks to greater awareness and people’s positive response, the dead chunk is less this year,” an official from the SWM department said. Dr Kishore Kshirsagar, deputy municipal commissioner, who was in-charge of the Ganesh festival, said: “There has been a 30% increase in immersions at artificial ponds. The feeling is that there has been a positive change in people’s approach in celebrating the festival.” Amid the good news, however, the civic body faces another crisis. The Ganesh festival generated more than 1,600 tonnes of floral waste across the city this year. There were 20 sites for devotees to dump floral waste. “The floral waste is too much to handle at all the places. Not all floral waste is converted into manure because of space crunch,” the official said. “Our tempo took rounds of each Ganesh mandal registered with us and collected the floral waste every day. The floral waste of other mandals and household Ganpatis was collected from the immersion spots on the second, fifth and seventh day.” According to records, the western suburbs generates more floral waste compared to the city and eastern suburbs. This is because the area has the highest population and more Ganesh mandals. The civic body said the K-East and West (Andheri, Jogeshwari and Vile Parle), H-East and West (Bandra, Khar, Santa Cruz) followed by R-Central (Borivli – East and West) wards generate the maximum amount of nirmalaya. “We need huge dug pits to put the nirmalaya and to vermicompost. Also, what do we do with such a huge quantity of manure? Last year, we could use only 450 tonnes of the 2,000 tonnes of floral waste as manure. It is usually used in our gardens,” the official said. Another civic official says things will improve in the years to come. “Most of the mandals used more flowers for decoration compared to other material. This is a positive sign as people are now concerned about the environment,” he said. Civic officials said the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Mandal generated less floral waste this year after it became an issue in 2011. This year, the mandal gave floral offerings to the devotees as prasad and that was one of the reasons for it generating lesser floral waste. Ashok Pawar, president of the mandal, said the civic body gave nirmalaya kalash which was cleared by it every day.