No more overflowing waste bins
Senior citizen establishes an alternative model in which the BMC collects waste from the doorstep
bins.
In 2014, he took the model a step further by asking people to segregate wet and dry waste before collection.
“Until three years ago, the streets at Malad were overflowing with garbage from community bins. It was the need of the hour to replace these outdated ideas with something that would benefit the community as well as the overflowing landfills in Mumbai,” said Rane. “It became my responsibility to get citizens to understand it was their responsibility to dispose of their own garbage.”
Before beginning his campaign, Rane spent 13 Sundays learning composting and recycling techniques with Envirovigil, a non-governmental organisation based in Thane. “Later I became a member, and conducted awareness programmes across Mumbai,” he said.
Today, Rane’s efforts have borne fruit. Six housing societies in his area are segregating dry and wet waste. While BMC’S garbage trucks collect wet waste from each society, residents sell the dry waste to ragpickers.
“After visiting Malad and seeing the fruits of his efforts, I understood his (Rane’s) persistence, commitment and ability to educate people. When it comes to treating waste, his endeavours are exemplary, as it became possible to remove dustbins from the road and thereby reduce garbage on the streets. As a result dirty spots on the roadside have been converted into small green spaces,” said Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman, Observer Research Foundation.
Apart from waste segregation, Rane has been involved for the past two years in regular cleanup drives, especially at Aarey Colony in Goregaon, which is one of the last remaining green lungs of the city. On Saturday, Rane supervised a two-hour-long clean up drive on the main road from Aarey police station to Chhota Kashmir Garden.