Mira Bhayandar: Residents rally to make MBMC's sustainability initiative a success

The ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ (RRR) centres set up by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) are getting an encouraging response, with residents dropping off old clothes, books, utensils, toys, furniture, e-waste, plastic items, footwear and other items. MBMC opened 24 RRR centres at strategic locations in the twin city on May 20.

The centres have received 1,765 visitors over the past 10 days. Volunteers have collected 1,663 books, 3,712 kilos of clothes, 726 pairs of footwear, 207 kilos of plastic waste, 79 kilos of e-waste, 44 kilos of utensils and 209 old toys so far. The campaign is part of the ‘Meri Life, Mera Swachh Shehar’ programme launched under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

To be made available for the needy

“The collected material will be handed over to various stakeholders to be refurbished for reuse or converted into new products, which will be made available to needy people,” MBMC chief Dilip Dhole said while urging people to take part in the campaign.

“Apart from the 24 stationery centres, we also have a mobile RRR collection van that moves around the region. Residents and commercial establishments can donate / hand over the items to on-duty civic personnel between 7 am to 1 pm at the RRR centres,” deputy civic chief Ravi Pawar said.

While 18 of the 24 centres will close their operations on World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, the administration is considering keeping the rest six open all year long. According to officials, this will not only help achieve the objective of undertaking collective action for protecting and conserving the environment by adopting sustainable living habits but will also reduce waste generation.