Navi Mumbai turns Ganesh idol waste into study tables for students

Navi Mumbai has taken a significant step towards environmental sustainability by recycling Plaster of Paris (PoP) from immersed Ganesh idols. The initiative aims to promote a circular economy model through scientific recycling and reuse of the material. The city was recently recognised as the second most eco-friendly in Maharashtra under the Majhi Vasundhara campaign. Last year, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) collected around 8,000 PoP idols from 146 artificial immersion ponds after the Ganesh festival. From these, the corporation recycled PoP from 700 idols into reusable material.

To develop a safe and effective recycling process, the NMMC consulted experts from IIT Bombay and ICT Mumbai. The recovered PoP was then transformed into 760 study tables, using approximately 1,500 kg of the material. These tables were distributed to students at Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Municipal Secondary School No. 104 in Ambedkar Nagar, Rabale.

This effort is part of the NMMC’s wider environmental conservation programme. In the next phase, the corporation plans to process the recovered PoP into raw material for manufacturing new idols. The project demonstrates a practical approach to reducing waste from festival celebrations. By recycling PoP into useful items like study tables, the initiative supports both environmental goals and community needs. Future plans include expanding the recycling process to create new idols from the recovered material.