The trip to Gazipur landfill site
on 9th March 2015 was a reality check for the students. In the morning before
we proceeded for the trip, children had were talking about the landfill and
what it might look like. As soon as we approached the landfill site children
wore masks to protect themselves; the first reactions were… “is it a mountain?”
“It is so huge!” “is all this garbage?” “Where is it coming from?”…As we
assembled, children started asking rapid fire questions… ‘if it a landfill ,
why is it so huge?’ ‘ Do people really live near such garbage?’ ‘Why isn’t
there a recycling plant?’
We were standing right next to
the board that claimed that this piece of green patch right in front of the
enormous pile of garbage was in fact a Gas Capturing Pilot Project by GAIL
India Ltd. Which was now closed due to some reasons. Also, in the horizon we
could see a red chimney which was Waste to Energy Plant which was closed down
due to the air pollution.
Children pointed out that we are looking at similar
waste management solutions for our future cities. Children were shocked to hear
that Delhi produces 8000 metric tonnes of garbage every day. Some children
observed that the pile included all kinds of waste and wanted to know how it
was segregated. Ms. Neha informed them that rag pickers segregated the waste
here. The question “How could people work in this environment ? Do they wear
protective clothes? Don’t they fall sick? They were surprised to know that the
green patch they had stood upon was covering the earlier landfill and that the Indraprasth
Gardens was also on top of a Landfill site.
The next stop was the Sweccha
Office at Saket. This office was special as it is India’s first upcycled
office. Children were fascinated to see their surroundings and observe Paint
cans used as lampshades. There was a discussion on what could we do as
children, how could we contribute towards recycling. It was heartwarming to see
children realize that the garbage needed to be sorted and disposed off properly
right at the source that is our houses then in colonies and further. The trip
ended with children visiting the manufacturing unit. Overall, this trip made
children realise that the we are the ones who generate waste, waste needs to be
sorted at the source and that before we use ,buy or make something new …we need
to ask ourselves… ‘Do we really need it?’ As a responsible person how we could
reduce , reuse , recycle and upcycle.
