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New
Eco-Warriors
"Who could imagine that we could turn
ordinary garbage into gold!" exclaims Sushila Mokal, a rag-picker who
now works as a supervisor for Parisar Vikas, an association of
about 2,000 women rag-pickers in Mumbai. Parisar Vikas (meaning
Eco-development) collects garbage from several localities, converts
kitchen waste into compost for plants and sells the non-biodegradable
waste to recycling centers. "We are helping to save the environment,
cleaning up the city and earning our livelihood," says Mokal proudly.
Indeed, the Parisar Vikas scheme is
the pioneering effort of Stree Mukti Sanghathana, a women's organization
that has been organizing around women's issues in Mumbai since 1975.
Better known for its inspiring Marathi play on the girl-child, 'Mulghi
Zhali Ho!' (A girl is born!), its counseling for women in distress
and programs for adolescents, the organization literally stumbled onto
garbage disposal and environmental awareness about seven years ago while
maintaining a crèche for women rag-pickers in Shramjeevi Nagar, a
locality of Mumbai.
"We learnt of the problems women faced in their work and began
organizing them. Soon, we realized that forming associations of the
women rag-pickers was only a first step towards training them to
undertake environmental activities like bio-composting, vermiculture and
gardening, says Jyoti Mhapsekar, president of Stree Mukti Sanghathana
(SMS).
Now, women rag-pickers, re-designated as 'parisar bhaginis' (or
neighborhood sisters), go from house to house in several localities in
Mumbai and collect garbage that has already been segregated into 'wet'
and 'dry' waste. They then convert the former into compost, sell or
recycle the latter and maintain plant nurseries and gardens in housing
societies. They even sell specially designed bio-composting buckets for
Rs 350 each (1US$=Rs49), providing a detailed pamphlet and an
orientation to individual households.
"We encourage people to put their wet kitchen waste into these 'magic'
buckets and explain to them that the resultant compost can be used as
organic compost for their plants. We monitor the process and step in if
there is any problem, for instance, foul smell. For this, we provide a
powder that helps remove the odor," says Mokal.
The women are paid Rs 75 per day and are happy that they get a steady
income that is above the minimum wage. Above all, they radiate a deep
sense of satisfaction at regaining their dignity and self-respect. "I
used to be a rag-picker and worked in a dumping ground but I prefer this
work. There are better conditions, I get good money for it and I like
it," says Tahera Sheikh, who dons an apron and works diligently at
separating the dry and wet garbage in Basera Housing Society in Deonar,
a locality in Mumbai's dusty north-west suburb of Chembur.
The Basera Society houses at least 30 apartments in two buildings and
was among the first housing complexes to start a compost pit in its
compound. Manju Saxena, an active member of the Society says that it
took several meetings and discussions with residents to convince them of
the efficacy of the method. "People were worried about the smell of
rotting garbage and didn't want to do any of the dirty work. But now, we
have become a model for other societies in the area," she says.
Sheikh is paid Rs 1,000 for four hours of work. Her task is to separate
the garbage, sweep the building compound, maintain the garden, and
deposit the wet garbage into two compost pits specially constructed by
the society and the dry garbage into a drum for disposal.
Conducted as part of the 'Advanced Locality Management Program' of the
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the project has been replicated
in several housing complexes across the city.
Tata Power Corporation's verdant housing colony in Chembur, with 540,
houses posed its own problems. Kitchen waste was of the order of 600 kgs
daily while at least one tonne of dry leaves from the scores of trees in
the colony had to be continually swept and converted into compost. At
least 20 women, all former rag-pickers, and a supervisor, work to fill
13 pits specially made for the purpose. "Their training had to include
cleaning and sweeping because rag-pickers never knew how to do anything
but sift through garbage," says Mhapsekar.
The women now know how to make layers of kitchen waste, dry leaves and
cow manure, watering it and checking for foul smells. For its work here,
Parisar Vikas earns Rs 88,000 per month, to pay salaries to its sweepers
and supervisor and rent a truck for garbage collection. "We have learnt
so much," says Sharda, supervisor at the Tata Housing Colony.
The women's work is not without hazards, however. Seven women and a
coordinator are employed in the Deonar dumping ground to convert the wet
waste that comes straight from the city's vegetable markets into
compost. Conditions are pathetic, as the women struggle against
offensive smells and smoke generated from mounds of burning garbage.
"These fires have been raging for the last 15 days," says Shakuntala
Kurkute, supervisor. The garbage catches fire partly due to the heat
generated by metals in the garbage and partly because other rag-pickers
try to melt plastic and iron objects.
The women are given protective gear like goggles, aprons and masks but
they usually avoid working with masks as it becomes unbearably hot. In
the monsoons, the ground turns into a flooded marshland, and the
prospect of navigating non-existent roads through rivulets of garbage is
horrific. The women workers at the Deonar ground are paid Rs 75 per day
and the sole male worker gets Rs 100 for the more heavy-duty work he
does. At least 15 to 18 tonnes of compost is generated in 40 days from
the Deonar project, and is sold to buyers from farms and plant nurseries
at the rate of about Rs 2,500 per tonne under the brand name of
'Mrinmayee'- the life-giving compost.
For the Parisar Bhaginis in the Tata Housing Colony, hurting
their hands while handling kitchen garbage mixed with glass pieces,
sharp metal and even razor blades, is another occupational hazard.
Numerous requests to the residents to sift out wet and dry garbage at
source have fallen on deaf ears as some insensitive and indifferent
residents throw garbage out indiscriminately.
"Small is definitely not beautiful in the case of plastic pouches and
sachets," says Mhapsekar, pointing to the scores of packets of 'gutka'
(chewing tobacco) dotting the garbage mounds at Deonar. Ultimately, the
objective of Parisar Vikas is to create a zero-garbage waste
situation in urban areas, generating awareness about the role of rag
pickers in protecting the environment and helping them form cooperatives
and participate in saving schemes and income generating schemes.
The work of the SMS with women rag-pickers has had an interesting
fallout - the challenge posed to the traditional caste system by the
simple changes wrought in the nature of the work. "Now that the women
are taking training in growing and maintaining plant nurseries, they are
even becoming gardeners, breaking both a caste and gender taboo," says
Mhapsekar.
– Geeta Seshu
July 3, 2002
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