Integrated Solid Waste Management in Purna, Bhiwandi.

Purna's godowns generate a steady flow of packaging waste (cartons, stretch film, strapping, broken pallets) and some hazardous waste, such as damaged containers that held chemicals. Where there is no arrangement, it is often burned in the lane or dumped at the village edge. We set up separate storage for each stream, put dry waste in the hands of recyclers who collect regularly, and dispatch hazardous items to authorised facilities with the paperwork to show where each load went.

Purna is one of the busiest godown villages in Bhiwandi, close to the Mumbai–Nashik highway. Unlike the newer planned parks further out, much of it grew plot by plot, as landowners put up sheds and rented them to traders, distributors and small manufacturers. Almost anything can pass through: consumer goods, packaging, textiles, electrical items, furniture and chemicals. Galas of different sizes stand wall to wall along narrow internal roads crowded with trucks and tempos, and the older village and its families live right beside them. Much of the storage changes hands every few years.