We were able to carry out the first pick up since lock down started in March. For many weeks program partners were reaching out to express difficulties in storing the collected waste any longer. Everyone had been collecting the waste for about four months.
Our usual collection method is mainly through schools and colleges but they have been closed due to the lockdown. Hence we carried out this new method of stopping at some of the schools for 15 mins and inviting students who have been collecting to come and deposit. The pickup got a great response from a few students who had been collecting all through the lockout.
On 27th August we organised the pickup during which almost 60,000 wrappers were collected besides 3700 tetra packs. This was the first time the program accepted tetra packs as well.
The collection van started at 9am from TIFR Colaba and drove north towards Kandivali collecting from 7 locations along the way. Vishal Jadhav supported the coordination.
Pictures from the collection on 27th August
Our usual pickups usually end with depositing the waste at a Nepra facility (our logistics and disposal partner) but this time due to the lockdown the Nepra facility in Malad (W) was not available and we kept the collected waste for a few days in our office in Vakola. It was later transported for the final processing and disposal. Pictures below.
This time the collection costs were borne through generous donations from the following individuals. Huge thank you to all donors! We are working on our funding through individual donations this year.
- Ratish Nair (Rs. 1500) 2) Priya Naik (1000) 3) Thangi Mannen (1000) 4) Jaideep Dharadhar (500) 5) Jaee Joshi (1000) 6) Prachee Joeg (4000) 7) RuR (1000) 8) Anonymous donor (Rs. 2500) 9) Manish Sethi (Rs. 1000)
The total cost of the collection was Rs. 10,700 and donations received were Rs. 13,500.
We will be carrying out regular such collection drives. If you would like to enroll your housing complex then please do send an email to info@safaibank.org. You can know more in this post – How to join
If you would like to make a donation please use the Support Us tab. In this difficult year we could do with some support.
Safai Bank of India is a program developed by Mumbai Sustainability Centre which is a registered NGO working on environmental and sustainability issues.