With multiple schemes for solid waste management remaining at the planning level, the overfilled garbage dumps in and around MMRDA have become breeding grounds for a number of health hazards ailing Mumbaikars. Solid waste management is a basic essential services to be provided by municipal authorities. The situation is now critical with an expanding urban population, crowding cities and making cleanliness a lost cause.
In the context of this, the Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, (WeSchool), Matunga, took the lead and installed a biogas plant at its campus.
The unit will use the wet waste generated in the cafeteria of the campus to produce clean energy that can fulfill a part of its energy consumption. The six cubic meter installation comes from a Cleantech company that had participated in the India-Sweden Energy Accelerator (ISIA) at WeSchool last year, where Swedish as well as Indian corporates with interests in green energy had come together to form teams with MBA students who undertook an extensive study for four months. This environment friendly initiative will enable the institute to manage solid waste at source in an efficient manner; it will also bring in reduction in the usage of LPG gas cylinders.
Talking about WeSchool’s new initiative, Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director said, “Institutions like WeSchool collaborate with all stakeholders for creating awareness, changing their mind-sets and empowering them for better governance, economic prosperity and sustainable environment. We expect that our young managers should become responsible citizens by moving from responsive to transformative contributors to the society. Together we can transform India and become contributors to change in the global context.”
The philosophy of sustainable development that WeSchool has adopted reflects in many other measures taken to make its campus eco friendly. Some of these include theinstallation of solar panels at its hostels, recycling grey water, minimising packaged water bottles, abolishing paper napkins from the toilets and many others.