BMC to recycle 1,982 metric tonnes of PoP retrieved after Visarjan

During the festival, the BMC retrieved a total of 1,982 metric tonnes of PoP from across the city, and 436 vehicles carried and unloaded it at a holding facility in Bhiwandi

Mumbai: Following orders from the Bombay High Court, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is, for the first time, trying to recycle the Plaster of Paris (PoP) remains of Ganapati idols submerged during the 10-day festival. The civic body had approached 12 institutions seeking methods to recycle the large quantity, in a bid to be environmentally sustainable.

On Saturday, the last day of the Ganapati festival, thousands of idols were immersed across the city. The BMC has collected the PoP idols and will not proceed to recycle them. (Praful Gangurde / HT PHOTO)

During the festival, the BMC retrieved a total of 1,982 metric tonnes of PoP from across the city, and 436 vehicles carried and unloaded it at a holding facility in Bhiwandi. The civic body has approached institutions including the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and others, to find solutions to recycle the large amount of PoP so that it does not leave any additional footprints in the ecosystem, confirmed a civic official. The official highlighted that the BMC wanted to make sure their attempt to prevent water pollution did not lead to air pollution.

A few institutions have submitted proposals to deal with the PoP, and the civic body will discuss these methods with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) before deciding how to proceed. “The quantity of PoP remains is so large that we are yet to decide on the best way to utilise it,” said a civic official.

Saturday marked the last day of the 10-day long Ganapati festival. Long processions followed the thousands of idols to artificial ponds and natural water bodies in the city for immersion as per the directives issued by the Bombay High Court.

According to the court’s directives and subsequent guidelines by the BMC, all idols under 6ft tall were to be immersed in over 290 artificial ponds set up across the city, and the idols that were over 6ft tall were allowed to be immersed in natural water bodies.

According to the data received from Maharashtra pollution control board, around 20,000 PoP idols were immersed in artificial tanks and over 3,000 POP idols above 6ft were immersed in natural water bodies. The people managing artificial ponds were instructed to keep the remains of the idols in the ponds during the festival, while the idols immersed in the 70 natural water bodies across the city were retrieved within 24-hours.

The remains of the idols were collected at the ward levels before being transported to Bhiwandi, where they will be processed once the BMC decides how it wants to proceed.