2023-08-23
Location: Bilkeshwar Mandir, Ward no. 10, Haridwar
Date: 2021-08-24
Bilkeshwar Temple manages its Bhandara waste sustainably with the help of Aviral
With the Shravan month ending, the vibrant city of Haridwar hosted one of the largest Bhandara organized by the Bilkeshwar temple. Known for its religious significance, thousands of devotees came together to offer their prayers, eat at the Bhandara and decorate the temple with lamps. Team Aviral along with the temple authorities decided on a sustainable way of managing waste at the Bhandara event!
With a heavy footfall of around 3500 people who attended the Bhandara, our team experienced an exciting and challenging opportunity to manage waste, spread awareness amongst the devotees, and create a strong fervor in the community towards the goal of reducing plastic waste in Ganga.
Our team dedicatedly manned the dustbins at the Bhandara and ensured that food waste was segregated from dry waste. The temple adopted the principle of ‘reduce’ at the Bhandara and our team ensured that this sustainable practice would be continued for every upcoming event at the temple. At the Bhandara, the temple used biodegradable plates made out of leaves instead of single-use plastic plates. They also provided water using a filter with steel glasses instead of packaged drinking water bottles!
Apart from manning the dustbins, our team also engaged with a wide range of members from the community, including residents of the temple and various ashrams in Haridwar, students, religious leaders, police officials, and tourists. Through this engagement, visitors at the stall understood the importance of reducing and segregating waste at home just like they did at the Bhandara. Many of them chanted our slogan out loud ‘Meri Ganga, Meri Zimmedari!’ and motivated other devotees to visit our stall and connect with us.
Our team also arranged a fun game on waste segregation for the visitors and there was active participation from many including the children and the temple priest! Through this, we were able to make learning about waste more interesting and engaging.
Our aim for every Bhandara event is that the community is able to practically understand segregation, its importance, and the ease with which it can be accomplished. We aim at bringing their attention to the categories of waste and the manner in which they need to be disposed of. Our team makes efforts to connect each member of the community with the river Ganga and the necessity to preserve it. In a city like Haridwar, considering its religious significance, with large events that host a large number of tourists, it is of utmost importance that people start taking small steps towards a cleaner Ganga
