Language of concern

It was this bin on Boat Club Road that took her on the road to environmental activism. 8220;As a concerned citizen, I8217;d make appeals to the PMC to clear the mess, which they would. But I soon realised that the problem was much bigger than just the matter of garbage clearance.8221;

With hectic development seeing several buildings sprout on the road, the problem was compounded. 8220;Sometimes, the PMC would lift the garbage round the clock and the bins would still overflow.

8220;At that time, Nalini Shekhar, who was working with the SNDT, had started a project where ragpickers were organised into a union and allotted areas to work in. I asked her to assign our road to three such women, who8217;d go from society to society collecting recyclable items.8221; Christian would go about asking people to separate their garbage. The idea of vermiculture had not yet set in. 8220;An article on vermiculture got me thinking. Vermiculture was then used primarily for farming and wasteland development. Hardly ever for household garbage.8221;

Christian then met Dr. Uday Bhawalkar, who had successfully identified the deep burrowing earthworm that could harvest garbage and Dr. Rankin of the Spicer Memorial College, who used this system to sustain the organic farming practised there.

8220;I saw how this system worked and was amazed at this little earthworm. First, it consumes matter equal to its own body weight! Which means that one pound of earthworms consume one pound of garbage. Also, even if the worm is burrowed deep, it can draw oxygen. So the soil becomes aerobic, no harmful pathogens can survive in it, and there8217;d also be no foul smell, flies or mosquitoes. I decided to try this system at our society.8221;

In 1986, Christian dug the first two pits in her society garden without anyone8217;s knowledge. 8220;I was not sure if it would work and getting everyone8217;s permission for a trial would have been almost impossible. I asked our gardener to put the wet garbage of the families in these pits. Initially, I tried many things. I put in congress grass, water hyacinth, fish bones, even a dead cat. Within eight days, the cat had disappeared. And I knew this system would work.8221; From that moment on, Christian became the most vociferous crusader of vermiculture. 8220;I felt it would be criminal not to use such a simple, effective and eco-friendly system.8221;

Initially, only the neighbouring societies evinced interest but soon she was lecturing at schools, colleges and in places like Viman Nagar and Dehu Road 8211; all for free.

Under former municipal commissioner Ramanath Jha8217;s invitation, a few years ago, a Sanitation Committee was formed to look into various aspects of garbage disposal, with three sub-committees. Christian headed one of these. 8220;He asked us to study the matter and give a report. We went around town and I was saddened to see the plight of the garbage workers. One of them fainted while clearing a tightly-shut bin because of the toxic gases it released. I recommended that there be no manual removal of garbage; it should be mechanised.8221;

Her report was so exhaustive and impressive that it has now become a handbook on garbage disposal. Even former Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi put its recommendations to use in his area. But Christian remains untouched by her success. 8220;It8217;s all a matter of common sense really. The problem is that no one really thinks about garbage. And the tragedy is that if we don8217;t, we will have to pay for it8230; dearly.8221;

Soon her area of operation spread from household garbage to hospital waste. And like the vermiculture movement, it began with simple concern. 8220;I was at a dental clinic one morning and was shocked to see this maidservant collect the disposable gloves removed by the doctor, powder them and put them into a plastic bag.

8220;I asked her what she was doing and she replied that she sold them to beauty parlours. Aghast, I decided to look into this matter and discovered that recycling of hospital waste was a flourishing business. Dr.R. Pardeshi, health officer, PMC, confiscated these items and hospital managements were forced to look into the issue of their waste.8221; It was then that the Jehangir Nursing Home8217;s administrator, Dr. Erach Bharucha, asked Christian to work out a programme for them.

Christian8217;s guidelines required that all recyclable material be separated from biodegradable ones. The syringes first be broken and put into an area that was locked. IV bags, gloves and the like be snipped before being put away. Material like cotton, mattresses and amputated limbs be incinerated or autoclaved, with left-over food and other kitchen waste put into vermiculture pits. Says Christian, 8220;Today, the programme is so successful that Jehangir sells its own manure.8221;

From a humble home-maker to an even more humble crusader, Christian has come a long way. But despite her achievements, the lady simply cannot rest. Whether the issue is regulating pub hours or our choking landfills, her simple housewifely concern will keep egging her on8230;