Mumbai develops circular economy for post-festival Ganesh idol waste
Headline by Prism · from 1 report
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation faces significant logistical and financial challenges in processing and recycling thousands of tonnes of Ganesh idols collected annually.
The Economic TimesThe brief
Written by software from the 1 report below.
- Mumbai recovers thousands of tonnes of Ganesh idols annually following the conclusion of the festival.
- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is currently seeking partners to process and reuse the collected Plaster of Paris material.
- Recycling efforts face hurdles including high labor costs, storage constraints, and the difficulty of separating non-recyclable decorative elements.
- Establishing a viable commercial market for the processed material remains essential for long-term sustainability.
What to watch next
- Outcome of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Expression of Interest for idol recycling agencies
- Progress in scaling up processing technologies to handle annual idol waste volumes
- Potential adoption of tracking systems like QR codes for idol life-cycle management
The points restate the reports; where one says why it matters, that is Prism's reading, not a reported fact.
Who said what
4 quotes · 1 outlet
Only words found exactly in the article are shown, attributed and linked to the line they came from.
Malhar Kalambe
Founder of Beach Please
2 quotes · 1 outlet
“On average, it took us approximately eight hours to break down 100 idols for a team of 20 people. So, it’s very labour intensive,”
In the article
…simple than the word “recycling” suggests.Beach Please Founder Malhar Kalambe, whose organisation has worked on recovering immersed idols, said the first problem is the sheer labour involved in breaking them down. “ On average, it took us approximately eight hours to break down 100 idols for a team of 20 people. So, it’s very labour intensive, ” he told ET Online. The collection and segregation of material are handled separately from its processing, said Binish Desai, Founder of Pushpam, which converts religious offerings and idol material into usable…
“Sustainability is expensive, and India is a very price-sensitive market.”
In the article
…the central question is not simply whether an idol can technically be recycled; it is whether the material can be processed economically and turned into something people will pay for.Kalambe puts the problem bluntly: “ Sustainability is expensive, and India is a very price-sensitive market. ” His organisation’s idol-recycling campaign is currently supported by a CSR partner, while products are made in batches rather than on a large industrial production line. Desai makes a similar argument. “The first rule…
Binish Desai
Founder of Pushpam
2 quotes · 1 outlet
“The first rule of sustainability is a balance of three things. It is people, planet, and then money.”
In the article
…market.” His organisation’s idol-recycling campaign is currently supported by a CSR partner, while products are made in batches rather than on a large industrial production line. Desai makes a similar argument. “ The first rule of sustainability is a balance of three things. It is people, planet, and then money. ” “Anything to be sustainable, it cannot be charity,” he said Pushpam has experimented with converting recovered religious material into products ranging from decor items and planters to corporate gifting products. Its…
“There is so much opportunity...The only reason it has not yet been there is no one is able to add value to it,”
In the article
…scientific processing and reuse. But recyclers need viable processing technologies, adequate storage, predictable material flows, and customers for the end products. Desai sees a large opportunity in idol recycling. “ There is so much opportunity...The only reason it has not yet been there is no one is able to add value to it, ” he said He believes that developing the right technologies and processes can make the market scalable. Kalambe, meanwhile, argues that the ecosystem needs to be designed rather than left to individual organisations.…
Coverage
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All filed from India
NamedIndia · Mumbai · Beach Please · Binish Desai · Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation · eCoexist Foundation · Malhar Kalambe · Pushpam
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