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Journalism of Courage
Amid Diwali discount offers urging new purchases, a social enterprise in the city has been helping people get rid of old stuff occupying space in their homes, responsibly.
Old television sets which have now been replaced by Netflix, treadmills that were bought in a bout of health-consciousness, clothes that no longer match one’s fashion sense, clunky old tablets and gadgets stashed in a drawer because they’re usable but outdated – over 4000 kg of all these and more were collected from over 2,000 families in a single day to be further recycled or upcycled.
This “declutter drive” was conducted in 13 housing societies in the city as part of a ‘Responsible tyohar’ campaign by ProEarth Ecosystems Private Limited, a social enterprise which has been working on waste management in Pune for over a decade.
“In an urban lifestyle, the kind of consumption we do and the number of times we replace things, leaves a lot of stuff just lying around which nobody is actually using. We started this campaign last Diwali to help people use the festive atmosphere to declutter and reorganise their homes,” said Anil Gokarn, founder director of ProEarth.
After weeks of a rigorous online and offline campaign through videos and posters in the neighbourhoods, people were urged to be ready with their “discards” on November 5 when it was all collected and brought to a material recovery facility in Pirangut.
What follows is aligned with the motto “reuse, upcycle, recycle”. All the collected material goes through sorting and passed on to different channels for different materials.
All collected cloth is passed on to one social enterprise, the plastic to another.
Appliances, gadgets and e-waste that can be fixed are refurbished and sold in the second-hand market. Items that cannot be used anymore are taken apart and sorted into materials by an MPCB-authorised recycler.
Meghana Khamkar of a housing society in Baner contributed to the drive and also acted as a coordinator in her building.
She said, “I feel so much lighter having gotten rid of my unused stuff. Diwali was just the right time to do this and we got a great response in our housing society. There is some awareness among people and the assurance that all the stuff will either be reused or recycled responsibly prompted many to participate in the drive actively.”
“Every housing society gave us an average of 300 kg and that does not happen just because people want to get rid of things,” said Hamsa Iyer, general manager of ProEarth and an eco-activist in her community.
“It is about also connecting with a cause, finding like-minded people in your own neighbourhood and taking action together to build a sustainable future. In the process of upcycling, livelihoods are generated. With recycling, materials can be put back into the economy instead of simply ending up in landfills,” Iyer added.
