This was one of those days why ComePostVille started as an initiative. To recognize and appreciate citizens who play their part in making a better world. It was a pleasant sunny morning and a lot of citizens were in patriotic mood as we all gathered at the Town Hall of the Corporation of the City of Panaji.
Some familiar and some not so familiar faces were greeting each other and getting into discussions on topics of waste management, public toilets, composting etc.
This story starts around a couple of months back, when we started discussing with the officials of the CCP (Corporation of the City of Panaji), if we could plan a Huddle where citizen composters, best public toilets could be recognized in some way.
The response from CCP was very encouraging and supportive.
The Republic Day was a good time to get together for the Huddle. As we were preparing and putting together the agenda for the Huddle, more ideas started coming from CCP and as we progressed more organizations like GIZ and TERI joined as Huddle partners.
It was a full house at the Town Hall and we were all looking forward to the proceedings.
The Minutes
1. The Huddle started with opening remarks by Noopur Sathe from TERI which set the tone for the proceedings.
2. Commissioner Mr Clen Madeira explained his vision of how the city of Panaji can be made among the best in Asia in terms of Waste Management and asked for citizens participation in the process.
3. Mr Dylan Fernandes made a presentation on the various activities of the CCP and also on the projects like 16 Way Segregation among societies, the sorting stations setup with Ayya Waste Management, the Shop with your Waste and other initiatives.
4. Professor Larissa Rodrigues presented on the Survey done along with students of the Home Science College of 33 Public Toilets in Panaji, the findings of which were submitted to CCP during the Event. The best 5 toilets were also recognized during the event.
5. Mr Drimson Fernandes presented on the Shop With Your Waste Campaign, the current progress and the vision forward.
6. This was followed by sessions on composting by the ComePostVille team.
The final recognition and certificates were given in the following categories.
Housing Societies which follow the 16 way segregation model
Best 5 Public Toilets in the city.( Safai Karmacharis)
Composters who reduce the burden on the municipality by processing their kitchen and garden scraps in their own houses/apartments.
Shops that are part of the Shop with your waste program
Students and Professor of the Goa College of Home Science who carried out the survey of Public Toilets in Panaji.
Agency which enabled disposal of a huge number of tubelights
Social media influencer who writes regularly on topics of sustainability.
The List of Winners in the We Compost Category
Composters in Panaji
Nascimento de Souza
Allwyn Sequeira
Christabel Shrivastava
Subbu Nayak
Harlynne Lobo
Elaine Fernandes
Patricia Colaso
Regina D'Costa
Varsha Raiker
Geetha Iyer
Josefa Pinto
Cheryl Pinto
Zero Waste Champions
Some key highlights in composting sessions.
Christabel Shrivastava demonstrated a very easy way of how anyone can start composting at home. The quality of her compost was excellent and was shown to the audience
Allwyn Sequeira demonstrated a very useful mini-shredder which can be used to substantially bring down the volume of kitchen scraps.
Subbu Nayak explained the vision behind the initiative of People for Panjim Parks and the results of the efforts that have been put in jointly with the CCP.
Leaf mold composting was demonstrated by Nascimento de Souza who is the senior most composter in Panaji going strong at 94 years of age.
A leaf composter made from bamboo was shown to the audience, which will be jointly inaugurated along with the CCP shortly.
We thank all the citizens who played their part in making this Huddle such a great event. We thank all the officials of CCP, GIZ, TERI, organizations like Ayya Waste Management, People for Panjim Parks, Voluntary Health Association of Goa, Goa College of Home Science and last but not the least the entire community of ComePostVille.
The Toilet Survey can be accessed below.
Comments