After finishing my
studies in waste engineering, I planned to work with this NGO on waste
management. I joined SWASH Village project through EduCARE India NGO in 2016, for 3 months.
The adventure started in Naddi. Hopefully, someone was already working
on waste management. That helped me to have a quick induction. Thanks to
that, we directly did activities related to SWASH Village project:
1. School workshop: we went to the governmental school in Sheni / Chhenni to
do some workshops on waste management. We played some games to raise their
awareness. Each time, the workshop was a success and the kids were
really engaged and involved.
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| Workshops in Shenni / Chheni's Primary School |
2. Trash collection: Once a week, we organized a waste picking for
Naddi's shopkeepers. This project, established by previous interns, ran
for a long time. We took over the project. That consists in collecting
the waste bin from each shopkeeper involved , carrying it with a truck
and empty the bins in a bigger waste bin that will be collected by the
municipality.
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| Bins used to collect the waste |
This part is not the easiest or the cleanest but sometimes it is funny. One time we arrived at the big bin but we were not able to do anything because of the monkey family who had lunch around the bin. We waited, in the truck, in front of the bin, that monkeys finished their lunch.
Despite this fast induction, it was very difficult to focus. There is too
much to do ! You would like to do everything, but 3 months are not
enough, you need to focus if you want to get things done. So you list
the ideas and organize it with a priority level. After speaking with the
organisation, we agreed to focus on the soft plastic issue. This waste
is produced a lot and its collection and treatment are often neglected.
The aim is to collect soft plastic from our house and one shopkeeper
(start little but think big), clean it well and store it in hygienic
conditions. The next step is to find a way to resell, reuse or recycle
it.
After collecting the soft plastic, we built a washing machine that could clean more soft plastic and faster.
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| Our DIY soft plastic washing machine! |
The biggest part was to find the best "process" to clean the soft plastic
efficiently and eco-friendly way. That's mean using less water, a natural
soap...
After we need to store it, waiting for something to do with the soft
plastic. Some centers store the soft plastic in a cloth to create a
cushion. I chose to store it in plastic bottles because it is costless
and it is a way to reuse plastic bottles. if we don't find a solution
rapidly to reuse this soft plastic, we can put the plastic bottles
together and create a sofa!
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| Plastic bottle filled with soft plastic and sofa model |
Sofa, cushions or other products from soft plastic could be resell. If
it is working, the project could be take over by the community because
they could create money with this waste. Here is an idea to develop a
local soft plastic recycling sector !
Working in SWASH Village project in Naddi and with EduCARE India NGO made me think differently about the waste
issue, with new problems and new perspectives that I had never think
about before. I am happy to come back to my country with a new vision of
the waste issue, it could be useful for my future job!
Coralie Rambaud
France
SWASH Village
Project Manager
Naddi
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