First Waste Management Park of country comes up in city

Civic authorities, various Non-Government Organisations and other people are endeavoring to make people aware about waste management. Often, they get limited success. But there are some who never give up. They strive hard selflessly to bring about a change that is in larger interest of the society. Swachh Nagpur, an organisation dedicated to creating awareness among people about cleanliness, has been doing its work by putting its heart into it. Now, it has come up with a novel idea of Waste Management Park, which is set up in National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). It is probably the first-of-its-kind Park in Central India and the country. Waste Management Park is the brainchild of Anasuya Kale-Chhabrani, Shefali Dudhbade and other members of Swachh Nagpur. They came up with the idea after deep thinking on the subject. After several efforts, the things did start but at a snail’s pace and Swachh people were not happy with it.

They realised delivering lectures, doing presentations or distributing pamphlets would not serve the purpose. They needed to do something more and the idea of Waste Management Park cropped up in their minds. “We talked to NEERI and it readily agreed. We hired some carpenters and as per our needs they prepared some designs depicting waste management ideas. We identified different types of waste including organic, electronic, dry cyclable waste, cement construction waste, rejected and biomedical waste. The designs of the same were made on which everything was well explained. If anybody visits the park and goes through the display, he/she can understand the concept easily,” explained Anasuya Kale-Chhabrani. “Journey in the park starts when one enters from a gate where a big board with bold words reads ‘Waste Management Park’.

The first thing on display is - Mother Earth. If one watches carefully, the Mother Earth looks sick. The reasons of her being sick is due to the management of waste being done by human beings in a haphazard manner. When one moves ahead, one gets to know details of every project focusing on disposal of garbage. “We have displayed also the model which tells what connection our lifeline has with waste management. The Park also guides people about waste management rules. Categorisation of the waste is also well-explained. Park gives the message to say no to single bin. Generators of the waste, residential, industrial, hospital, way of disposal-- refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose all have been told through models. We have kept pamphlets also that we distribute among visitors,” elaborated Kale-Chhabrani. “When one completes one round from sick Earth, one reaches to the model where one see delightful Earth. It gives message if one follows the rules of waste management in a proper way then we can make our Mother Earth happy. “People have already started visiting the Park, schools have approached NEERI and Swachh Nagpur for their visits. We are in the process of fixing days and timing that we still have not decided. Of course, that is very secondary. Most important is we are happy with the response and our creation.

We are optimistic that people would merely not visit the place, they learn something out of it and apply. If it is done then we feel that we have achieved something,” expressed Kale-Chhabrani. “There will be a questionnaire to be filled by visitors and at the bottom of it children have to write phone numbers of their parents. Swachh Nagpur will call them to sensitise on segregation of waste and its disposal. Volunteers at the venue also will explain to people about the journey of waste management,” added Kale-Chhabrani. Swachh Nagpur team including Anasuya Kale-Chhabrani, Shefali Dudhbade and others are grateful to Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director of NEERI and Dr Atya Kapley, Sr Principal Scientist and Head, Environmental Genomics Division of NEERI. “Also, we extend our gratitude towards Abhijit Bangar, Municipal Commissioner who always showed readiness to help,” said Kale-Chhabrani. The team also extends its gratitude to six artists who helped it in fabrication, carpenting and designing models.

George Washington Carver did same thing George Washington Carver, an American agricultural scientist and inventor who actively promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion was a great environmentalist too. In the initial day with lack of resources, he performed scientific experiments in a damaged laboratory which did not have even the test tube. Carver had used all scraps like damaged wire, broken glasses, wooden sticks, fallen leaves, threads, needles etc to have all the utensils out of it and invented things that later found useful for the mankind. On the same line The Park in NEERI also has tried to teach people the other side of the waste which can be used in a constructive manner. This is on the right side of the park. Park tries to explain to people that every waste is not to be thrown. It can make things look beautiful. There is some waste which are not needed to be destroyed. So on the right side there is a bridge, sitting arrangement, fountain, selfie corner etc all made out of scrap, one won’t believe. Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director of NEERI said, “Waste is beautiful too, you have to bring it close to your heart. You have to identify the beautiful out of waste and use it.”

Explaining NEERI’s role in the Park, Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director told ‘The Hitavada’, “We do lot of activities inside our premises but we did not have public interface so we accepted the idea. Now, people would start visiting the Park. We have expanded the idea where we have appealed people to come to the park with their waste and prepare something out of waste. We will promote those projects of the common public. Without taking any credit we will propagate those. We want to take it at national level. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has 38 laboratories at various places in the country. This beautiful concept can be shaped in various cities of India through CSIR laboratories. Every city has its own identity so it will adopt accordingly and give a good message helping society to develop in a different way.” NEERI wants to approach NMC NEERI wants to take the idea further. Dr Rakesh Kumar said, “Every Ward in city can have collection point where people can drop material like thermometers, batteries, mobiles, lights, plugs, chargers, expired medicines, the material that is hazardous. Ragpickers should pick up it separately and its disposal can be done in a different way. NEERI is ready to help in guiding civic authorities about its disposal. We are planning to meet Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Banger. If he accepts then Nagpur will be known as Waste Management Litterateur.”