This document proposes a solution to manage waste sustainably in Mumbai through fruit-to-fruit composting. Currently, Mumbai generates a large amount of garbage that ends up in landfills due to a lack of proper waste management and segregation at the individual level. The author conducted research including prototypes that found residents are willing to segregate waste if there is a convenient service. The document suggests a new model where waste is segregated at homes and transported to communal composting areas to produce rich soil. This soil would be given to farmers who would grow fresh produce to sell back in local markets, creating a sustainable loop from fruit to fruit.

1. Fruit to Fruit
Making waste sustainable in Mumbai
Fruit to Fruit
Making waste sustainable in Mumbai
Sanika Palkar
London College of Communication (UAL) November, 2012

2. The Problem

3. Summary
Mumbai is a vibrant melting pot - India’s New York, some call it.
Cosmopolitan, upwardly-mobile, ostensibly aspirational, ambitious and
also unfortunately bursting at the seams with garbage. To many it may
seem like a bewildering mix of people from all income groups - the
super rich (many of India’s new billionaires are based there) rub
shoulders with Mumbai’s teaming millions (one in two people in the city
live in slums). And then there are millions of others who call themselves
“middle-class”. For everyone who lives there - the money they make
dictates how they behave and what kind of lifestyles they enjoy. Not
surprisingly, they have a vast difference in how they manage their
homes and waste. The middle class has the luxury of employing
domestic help to do household chores and mostly live in apartment
blocks, the working class is not so fortunate and the poor live on
margins, without proper housing. While there are differences in how
they live what remains the same is the method of storing and disposing
their household waste. Among all domestic cleaning chores (that
include: doing the dishes, sweeping and mopping the floor, laundry,
general maintenance and other innumerable tasks) waste management
remains a visible and mostly unresolved area that directly affects
cleanliness and hygiene inside and outside the house.
There is a distinct lack of awareness among even educated residents
about the direct connection between how domestic waste contributes
to the alarming amount of garbage that goes to landfills/ dumping
grounds. The total amount of garbage (required to be collected and
deposited at dumping grounds) is increasing every year. And that’s why
there is a crying need to manage waste effectively - ideally recycling
most of it at the individual level. The challenge lies however, in
encouraging people to think before they throw their garbage away. In
this project data has been collated and analysed to find a sustainable
service solution to manage waste - at an individual and community
level.

4. Littered Streets

5. garbage collectors
transport of waste
to the landfills
storage before municipal collection
households
storage of waste in homes
Current Process

6. Ragpickers
Sell recyclable material to bhangarwalahs to earn a living

7. Bhangarwalahs
Rubbish collectors

8. whole salers
households
recycling
companies
Bhangarwalahs
a unique link in the recycle chain
ragpickers bhangarwalahs

9. Storage of waste

10. Composition of the wastebasket - Home cooking

11. Composition of the wastebasket - Findings

12. Other Research

13. Amrit Mitti (compost)
from dry leaves
that is tastier, abundant
and unadulterated
they accept wet waste from enthusiasts,
but they are concentrating on making the base
of a good compost. If wet waste is added, it would
further enhance the quality of the soil.
Urban Leaves (NGO)

14. Composting - Different Methods

15. The pots should look elegant,
it shouldn’t be obvious that it
is a compost.
Maid - known as‘Bai’
Persona 1

16. Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Awareness
when people get to see
what they can get,
something like fresh produce
they find faith behind the concept
Persona 2

17. I have tried composting but it smells.
If it is done in societies, someone
has to be present to take care of it.
I will definitely segregate waste,
as long as the service is not too
expensive and if it helps the
environment we live in.
Plus if it yields fresher unadulterated
produce, I would be assured that my
efforts are fruitful.
She is very appreciative
of her bai of 25 years,
to have built a house
on her own steam, and
acknowledges the
sheltered life she grew
up in compared to their
hardships.
Persona 3

18. Prototype 1 - Readiness to Segregate
The tool

19. Prototype 1
Duration: 5 DAYS

20. Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Prototype 1
4 days of collection

21. Prototype 1 - The result
12 kilo wet waste, 2 kilo dry waste

22. Prototype 2
Determining the ideal compost location
Communal Compost Beds
Individual Compost Bin
Terrace Compost Bed

23. Communal Composting Bed
Individual Composting Bin
Terrace Composting Bed
Prototype 2
The tools

24. Prototype 2 - Feedback
Reaching the end user

25. Communal Compost Beds
Individual Compost Bin
Terrace Compost Bed
very few
Prototype 2
The result

26. Opportunities, Stakeholders and Interventions
A few changes would greatly enhance the current system. These are:
segregation (of waste), better storage facilities, locations earmarked for
composting, making compost available to farmers and a way to get
their produce back to the market.
For this to happen, the model will have to be re-invented. Some
important new condition could be: access to public space for creating
composting lands, support from the government, educated garbage
collectors, co-operation from farmers, and most importantly support
from the community.
But who are the stakeholders? Householders, garbage collectors,
bhangarwalahs, local authorities, government, farmers, corporate
houses, local businesses – all these could be involved in creating a
new system that would be mutually beneficial.
The new model holds truly exciting possible outcomes. Three of
these are:
1. After the waste is segregated at homes, it would be carried to the
composting grounds, where it would generate rich soil. This could be
transported to farmers in rural areas close to Mumbai. This will help
them grow better produce.
2. Once segregated, the wet waste would be sent to processing plants
where it could generate power.
3. Post segregation and the composting, the rich soil generated would
be made available to the municipal corporation of Mumbai, for
developing city gardens and beautifying public spaces.

27. Stakeholders
Possibile links between them
householders
volunteers
corporate housesbhangarwalahs
farmers
garbage collectors

28. generates power 2 beautiful city 3
garbage collection
and transporthouseholds
composting
compost farmers
great produce
in the markets 1
3 Benefitting Outcomes

29. Storyboarding
Service Outcome - A pilot system
9
REC
10 11 12
1 2 3 4
7 85 6
housing society garbage collectors house to house collection managing waste
waste to compost process of composting continues the dry waste is sold for recycling
reward - money From The Waste the pilot process is documented presented to local authorities people in the housing are happy

30. A sustainable loop
From fruit to fruit