SIA donates garbage bins to tackle trash during Kanwad

Kanwad pilgrimage may be lending saffron colour to the entire city with holy atmosphere of echoes of glories to Lord Shiva but there is are other aspects which also perturb the local residents. To address the problem of littering by lakhs of kanwad pilgrims who come during this fair and spend days walking through the entire district with cans full of Ganga water to be offered on Shivalingas back home, industrialists have donated some garbage bins which are specially designed to hold empty wrappers and packaging waste.

“The idea to donate and make such large garbage bins germinated after my visit to Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh. The innovative idea I encountered there inspired me,” says president of SIIDCUL Industrial Association (SIA), Arun Saraswat.

He explains that the bin is large, can store plastic bottles and waste in considerable quantiy at a time because smaller bins may get filled up sooner and emptying the same may not be so regular or frequent.This large storage with woven sack as replaceable storage having large handles to pick is a practical idea.”

The kanwadias might use water bottles and many plastic items and since their numbers are huge, a garbage container that may be emptied after a comparatively longer period was the need felt by the association.

“The plastics, scattered across the pathway, would find a place in this bin. The Municipal Corporation or district administration's sanitation workers experiencing job pressure, a larger garbage bin was more practical. Hence we adopted this idea and made a few at our workshop and donated several bins to be placed at strategic locations.Haridwar Police took special interest and coordinated with us in this task,” added Saraswat.