Mumbai’s F-South ward has begun converting floral waste collected after the Ganpati festival into compost for civic gardens, using nearly 25 large composting bins at St Xavier’s ground in Parel. The initiative is designed to keep nirmalaya, or floral remnants from worship, separate from mixed waste and prevent it from being discarded in the sea.
The waste was collected from 18 artificial immersion sites across the Parel-Dadar belt, as well as from neighbourhoods through dedicated handcarts. The ward includes several densely populated areas where Ganpati celebrations take place in homes, chawls, narrow lanes and large public mandals.
Sanjay Mohite, assistant engineer in the F-South ward’s solid waste department, said the floral waste was collected at source using handcarts introduced for the first time during this festive season. The system was intended to ensure that flowers and other organic offerings did not get mixed with regular waste.
Vrushali Ingole, assistant municipal commissioner of the ward, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation deployed four dedicated handcarts to collect floral offerings from neighbourhoods and major mandals in Lalbaug, Hindmata, Chinchpokli and Sewri. The handcarts were used to reach smaller localities as well as larger festival sites.
After collection, the material was taken to the composting facility at St Xavier’s ground and placed in separate bins. A microbial culture has been added to accelerate the composting process, according to Ingole. Officials expect the material to take about a month to fully decompose.
The resulting compost is expected to be used as manure in civic gardens in the area. The arrangement creates a separate processing stream for a type of organic waste that is generated in large volumes during the festival but is not suitable for mixing with routine municipal waste, officials said.
The F-South ward’s approach also links festival waste collection with the maintenance of public green spaces. Instead of treating floral offerings only as post-immersion refuse, the civic system is processing them for use in gardens managed by the municipal corporation.
Local Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Sachin Padwal welcomed the initiative, saying nirmalaya often cannot be mixed with regular waste. The civic administration’s next step is to allow the material to complete the composting cycle before using it as manure in gardens across the ward.
