“If we need to really solve the problem, we need to collaborate, create collectives, and take solutions at scale.” – Ravi Venkatesan, UNICEF Special Representative for Young People and Innovation, business executive, venture capitalist, ex-chairman of Microsoft India, and the boards of Bank of Baroda and Infosys
Dineshbhai, Baldevbhai, Dashrathbhai, Lalabhai, and Maheshbhai have been a part of the IIT Gandhinagar family for the last one and a half, three, three, four, and six years respectively. While Dineshbhai lives in Sanand and Baldevbhai and Dashrathbhai in the Sabarmati area (Ahmedabad district), Lalabhai resides in Palaj and Maheshbhai in Borij (Gandhinagar).
They are waste collection and management workers at IITGN and work from 8 AM to 5 PM daily. Maheshbhai works as a replacement in case any others are not available on the campus on any given day. Starting from the Housing area, they call the residents by blowing whistles to collect the waste from apartments. But in the present pandemic situation, they have switched from whistles to ringing plates using spoons so that they would not have to remove their masks in the process. The Institute community tries to make sure to segregate the waste properly before giving it to them. They double-check the same and deposit the materials accordingly in different dustbins (dry waste, kitchen waste, e-waste, etc.).
After covering all the Housing blocks (01 – 30) from 8 AM to 9:30 AM, they eat their breakfast in the Mess hall. Then they divide into teams of two – one team collects the waste from the different blocks of the Hostel area and the other team regularly keeps track of the amount of waste generated. They also segregate the mess-waste into two categories – the dry waste is taken to the compost pits and the organic waste to the biogas plant of the campus. Around 1 PM, they have their lunch in the Mess, and from there, they proceed to the Academic area together and again get divided into two teams. One of the teams collects waste from this area while the other segregates all the collected waste further. Eventually, they hand over the non-reusable waste to the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation vans. On the other hand, they take all the reusable waste to the Scrap Room (behind the Academic area) and properly segregate it there (such as cartons and paper are put together but separate from plastic materials and metal waste). In the evening, they again go to the Hostel area to pick up waste from the eateries and food outlets.
“Before COVID-19, sometimes, people deposited the waste after two or three days since they would have a less collection of daily waste in their rooms and homes. Now, everyone is aware of the present crisis and hence, nobody wants to keep the garbage for more than 24 hours as a preventive (safety) measure. So, our work-responsibility has increased slightly in these times. But, we understand the seriousness of this situation and therefore, try to do our best to maintain cleanliness and hygiene with utmost care and priority,” they explained.
Adding further, they said, “Given the nature of our jobs, wearing masks and gloves have always been a part of our uniforms. But, now we keep sanitizers, provided by the Institute, with us at all times and use them frequently as an effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. We also strictly follow the norm of social distancing for everyone’s health and safety. Moreover, as we actively deal with waste for a significant part of our everyday lives, IITGN has always urged us since pre-COVID-19 times to take a bath after completing our work (inside the campus) and before leaving for our homes so that there is no chance of spread of any type of infection to us, our families or others while we travel.”
They elaborated that this viral illness has led the people to become more responsible. A series of emails were circulated within the Institute urging everyone to properly segregate the waste (into biodegradable, recyclable, sanitary, and everything else) from their places before handing them over to the workers. Another guideline issued by the Green IITGN team emphasizes on handing over of milk packs, curd packets, plastic food boxes, and other wrappers only after being rinsed and dried. Furthermore, contaminated plastic bags cannot be recycled and end up in landfills. The community members are also asked not to hand over any organic/biodegradable waste in plastic bags as this greatly complicates the work of the collection team. Presently, the waste collection points near Housing Blocks 07 and 16 are being used only for emergencies and the waste collection cart service is being preferred. As a result, people have been extremely careful and this activity has been helpful to the waste collection and management team.
Since the implementation of the nationwide lockdown imposed by the Government of India, Dineshbhai, Dashrathbhai, Baldevbhai, Lalabhai, and Maheshbhai lived inside the campus premises till the lockdown was lifted. During this period, the Institute took care of their requirements and provided them hygienic washrooms, tidy rooms, water coolers, healthy food, washing machines, and other essential facilities. They will also be given incentives on top of their salaries as encouragement of doing their bit towards trying to ensure everyone’s safety by staying at the Institute during those times.
Expressing concern over people losing their jobs amidst this crisis, they stated, “Many of our friends and relatives are facing this problem – some of them are involved in small businesses which are stagnating, others are receiving fewer salaries and many are left completely jobless. We are grateful that our jobs at the Institute have been unaffected and we are still getting properly paid for our work.”
Dineshbhai, Baldevbhai, Lalabhai, Maheshbhai, and Dashrathbhai are happy to be a part of the IIT Gandhinagar family – a place where people stand strong together and help each other in dealing positively with the tough times.
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This article is authored by Apeksha Srivastava, with help from Devarsh Barbhaya and Dhara Vora.