Organic Waste Converters in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai.

Ulwe's new societies are meant to turn their food scraps into compost, and the node's collection arrangements are still settling in. A converter beside the parking turns those scraps into manure for the society's own landscape and cuts what has to be carted away. We match the machine to a fortnight of weighed waste, set up separate bins at each flat and floor, and show the housekeeping crew how to operate it, so nothing hinges on a collection vehicle arriving on time.

Ulwe is one of CIDCO's newest nodes, built on low land at Navi Mumbai's southern edge beside the new international airport. Paddy, salt pans and creek-side wetland once covered much of it, and preparing the airport site meant diverting the Ulwe river and cutting down a hill. Rows of residential towers now stand in its sectors, with many more under construction, and the sea link from Sewri comes ashore close by. Schools, shops and clinics are still arriving behind the residents. Flat, bare of old trees and half-built, it is filling up year by year.