Residents celebrate garbage to clean up neighbourhood

Kripa Ramachandran, researcher at Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), said that through such vizhas, the idea was to ensure participatory action mapping of community infrastructure for waste management. 

“We held the event at the park because there were more opportunities for engagement dialogue and inclusivity, as there were many resident welfare associations already actively composting and segregating their waste. We wanted to take it to the next level, make them leaders in this area – basically map the participation of community infrastructure to enforce effective solid waste management practices,” she added. 

The stalls looked at alternatives to plastic and workshops were conducted to give people an experience on upcycling and composting. “An important part was to start a dialogue around sanitary waste. We had looked at alternatives such as cloth pads and menstrual cups, to sustainably manage menstruation waste. We also had a workshop on making cloth pads. 

Additionally, our stalls were designed with collected old clothes, which were later donated to Goonj, an NGO,” pointed out Kripa, adding that they aim to conduct such vizhas at other neighbourhoods too. 

Ganga Sridhar, a software professional and member of Solid Waste Management Forum of Mylapore, had conducted a workshop on home composting. 

“I initially thought that the event will draw people living in Mylapore but I was pleasantly surprised to see interested people from Chetpet, Ambattur and Mogappair too. It was nice to see so many people interested in composting at their homes or apartment complexes and needed that initial push and hand holding – our team made the most of this opportunity to get as many people to compost at the basic level,” she concluded.