Vijayawada Municipality Converts Vinayaka Chavithi Waste into Eco-Friendly Products

Vijayawada: In an innovative act, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has utilised green and flower waste produced during the Vinayaka Chavithi celebrations to produce nine lakh incense sticks and three lakh dhoop cones. In addition, the corporation made one lakh seed balls, 500 soaps and 300 candles, thereby making the celebrations ecologically sustainable.

Even before celebrations began, VMC commissioner Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar had entered into a collaboration with Greenwaves for processing and recycling waste generated during the festivities. Earlier, pooja materials and other waste primarily used to end up in the city’s canals, causing considerable pollution.

This time, VMC officials had started a campaign to ensure that Ganesh pandal organisers handed over flowers, leaf and other devotional waste to the corporation, without throwing them into the three canals that pass through Vijayawada city.

Taking abundant precautions, the municipality built fences along the 50 culverts to prevent people from throwing waste materials into the water. In addition, authorities placed bins along these bridges and assigned personnel to educate citizens into throwing festivity waste into the bins, instead of the canals.

Through these efforts, VMC gained the trust and support from citizens, resulting in collection of a remarkable 15 tonnes of devotional materials during the nine-day Vinayaka Chavithi celebrations. The corporation shifted these materials to the Flower Waste Processing plant in Ajith Singh Nagar. Greenwaves, along with VMC, meticulously segregated the materials into flowers, patri and other waste, sun-dried and recycled them into agarbatti incense sticks, dhoops, seed balls, and compost manure.

Swapnil Dinkar thanked citizens of Vijayawada for supporting this green initiative of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. He requested them to continue supporting VMC's green initiatives for a cleaner, greener Vijayawada.