VINAYALAYA – A Green Campus
Center for the Promotion of Environmental Awareness
Vinayalaya, Mahakali Caves Road, PB 9405, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400093, INDIA
CONCEPT NOTE
The Bombay Xaverian Corporation (BXC), under which Vinayalaya falls, has committed itself to work alongside all people of goodwill in caring for the earth, our common home. Part of this mission is to inform, inspire, and involve people in the urgent need to care for our planet.
The BXC endeavours to bring together and train groups of people on ecological issues, conduct green audits of different institutions as a base-line study for promoting eco-friendly lifestyles, network with research and advocacy teams, commit to a 50% reduction in dependence on non-renewable energy sources through use of solar energy and energy-efficient electrical appliances, develop demonstration sites/activities which can model good earth practices, enhance food security and sustainable livelihoods for adivasis and rural communities, and promote an experience of communion with Nature
Vinayalaya is a Human Development Resource Centre and hosts groups of people, as large as 100 at a time, who want to explore the deeper dimensions of life. Weekend sessions are especially popular.
Vinayalaya boasts of a lush green 10-acre campus. This oasis of green, with its rich plant life as well as birds & insects is a most precious resource for the suburb of Andheri as well as for the city of Mumbai. Since this bio-rich green campus is frequented by at least a few thousand people every month, we think it imperative to develop this campus as an Eco-Hub. In actual practice it means that we will develop/conduct various practices which show that we are seriously working towards building a cleaner and more sustainable planet.
OBJECTIVES OF THE GREEN CAMPUS PROJECT
TARGET GROUP
The target group comprises the many groups that visit Vinayalaya. These include students from schools & colleges, teachers who come for teacher-training programmes, groups involved in psycho-spiritual programmes like the NLP and youth from Mumbai & other districts in Maharashtra.
INTENDED OUTCOMES
Our aim is that the participants leave this campus with the following learnings:
METHODOLOGY
The groups that stay at Vinayalaya generally come with a programme planned of their own. Our endeavour is to offer them a short input session (between 30 to 60 minutes duration) along with a guided tour around campus which will expose them to various earth-centered practices. This short instruction is meant to enthuse the participants to be more aware of clean-green practices and to actively replicate whatever is possible in their homes and elsewhere.
OUR NETWORKS
Our partners include organizations like D-ERT (an NGO focused on sustainable micro eco systems within the urban landscape). We also tie up with other Mumbai-based NGOs specializing in waste management, e-waste management, and dry waste collection).
Our closest collaborator group is ECO-PALS (a group which comprises corporate professionals engaged in eco activities). We also work closely with our others in the vicinity and beyond – the Divine Child School, Divya Jyoti Activists, Snehasadan (a registered home for rescued street children), organizations at Shradhaseri & Unai, and other groups.
Our network extends to the works done at Maharashtra Prabodhan Seva Mandal, Nashik (https://mpsm.in), Shanti Seva Mandal at Manor, Janhit Vikas Trust at Raigad, and various other groups.
ECO INTERVENTIONS ACROSS THE VINAYALAYA CAMPUS
I. BIO-DIVERSITY PARK (Promoting Bio-Diversity on Campus)
The Vinayalaya campus, Andheri, Mumbai, is home to diverse plant life. A variety of birds, some rare, are also spotted on campus.
The green campus project includes enhancing this richness by planting fruit trees, flowering plants, local as well as exotic plants, that can turn Vinayalaya into one large Bio-Diversity Park.
Small jungle patches as well as carpeted lawns are also planned. Every tree on campus has been identified by its botanical name, local name, and other essential data. Visitors will be made aware of the rich flora and fauna of the place.
Process
Youth from the neighbourhood and a core team of young trainees have been tasked with the job of identifying, garnering information, and processing the information of all the trees on campus. This information has been affixed to the trees. A QR-code will help the visitors to access more information from a particular website concerning a particular tree.
Fr. Arun Lobo and Fr. Learoy Rodrigues are tasked with the job of procuring plant species that can enhance plant diversity on campus.
Materials & Infrastructure
Members of the Eco Pals group have assisted with the process of printing the names of the trees and the other relevant data onto specially-made plates
II. WASTE MANAGEMENT
A. Bio-Composting & Shredding of Waste
The Vinayalaya team along with the Eco-Pals and our campus collaborators have installed a 7.5 HP Shredder machine, which will shred all the garden and kitchen waste on the Vinayalaya campus as well as the waste generated on our neighbouring campuses. Appropriate steps are now being followed in order to preserve the shredded material and turn it into compost.
Process
A few staff members (gardeners) have been trained to use the Shredder and the Rotary Drum Composter. Some from the existing Vinayalaya staff as well as a select group of volunteers are also involved in the process of shredding, including some youth from the vicinity and the Eco-Pals.
Garden waste as well as kitchen waste is being shredded and then added to the drum (which has two sections) in the appropriate measure and kept for about 2 months. The compost is then put in bags/ sacks and distributed or given back to NGOs who ask for it. Some of the manure is being used as mulch directly to enhance plant growth in the Vinayalaya campus.
Leaf composters have also been installed at different points on campus. These composters will take some of the load of the many leaves that fall from tress. The green waste will be mixed with kitchen waste and coco peat in the right amounts, and kept for a designated period in the leaf composter. Once it turns into compost it will be removed and distributed.
This process of making compost has a two-fold purpose. The first, is that we use the compost to increase the vitality of the soil and thus of the plants on campus. The second, is to model a good practice which students and others can see and learn from.
Materials & Infrastructure
The materials include a 7.5 HP Shredder, got from the NGO D-ERT, a Rotary Drum Composter, and a log splitter. Bags have been procured for the purpose of storing compost. Five Leaf Composters have been procured.
B. Segregation of Waste & Recycling
The Human Resource Development Centre Staff at Vinayalaya will pay focused attention to the treatment of different kinds of waste generated. The aim is to collect
different kinds of waste separately in designated bins and to dispose this waste by passing it on to groups who can take forward the recycling process.
Process
The NGO Shakti Plastic Industries is collaborating in this area of segregation of waste. A two-day training session was held on 7th and 8th August 2024 in ‘Waste Management’ for all the co-workers on the campuses of Vinayalaya and other institutions nearby. Thirty staff members attended the session. The focus of the session was on identification & segregation of waste. The workers were helped to understand the problem of waste in the world, its effect on the environment, kinds of waste (dry, wet, plastic, metal, glass, e-waste, etc.) how to use separate colour coded garbage bins, etc. The NGO has given specifics concerning collection of different kinds of waste and also about recycling of different materials.
The Vinayalaya Staff is now following the process of segregation of its waste, reduction/abolition of single use plastic, and practicing recycling on a priority basis.
The Eco-Pals have planned a Waste Audit that will be conducted in every kitchen on this campus, in order to assess current practices and to take remedial steps towards effective recycling/disposal of waste.
Materials & Infrastructure
Garbage bins (colour coded) have been procured and correctly labelled in English and Hindi. Flex charts will also be put up at significant places to highlight the fact that this is a Green campus and a plastic free zone. Signs/ information boards concerning proper disposal of waste are put up.
III. ALTERNATE & CLEAN ENERGY (Use of Solar Energy)
Vinayalaya has moved towards the use of alternate and clean energy by installing two large sets of solar panels (40 kW and 20 kW each). These panels generate the energy needed for all kinds of electrical appliances in almost all the departments of the house.
Some power is saved and stored at the grid. The aim has been to maintain a zero-electricity bill; something which Vinayalaya has been achieving for the last one year. The Vinayalaya Staff has also moved towards using electric vehicles (EV).
The solar panels serve as models of good practice for the many visitors here at Vinayalaya. Information boards will be designed and placed at a strategic point around the house displaying the importance of switching to alternate energy sources, the energy saved by the use of our solar panels, information concerning maintenance & upkeep of these panels, and other useful details.
IV. MEDICINAL HERB GARDEN & KITCHEN GARDEN
With the space available on this campus, our plan is to put the earth to good use by growing plants that are organic in their yield, therefore more suited for consumption, as well as plants with medicinal properties, which can be used for treating certain ailments.
Two plots have been identified wherein medicinal herb plants are grown as well as vegetables that would normally have been grown in a kitchen garden. The medicinal plants include aloe vera, adulsa, tulsi, eucalyptus, pudina, fennel, ginger, aswagandha, ajwain, etc. Besides house staff, the students who are resident on campus are engaged in this work towards the herb garden. It would also serve as good training in learning about local remedies & treatments and organic farming.
We also partner with our other Jesuit NGOs at MPSM, Tara, Ambatha and with the Religious Sisters at Unai, Gujarat, who have specialized in the cultivation of herbal medicine. Their expertise has been sought, and samples of herbal medicine have been procured as models on display at our center.
Materials & Infrastructure
The layout for the herbal garden has been decided and this has been set up with the required medicinal herb plants.
A system of sprinklers is installed in order that there be an efficient watering system in place.
V. ECO RETREATS & GREEN SPACES
Vinayalaya has predominantly been a Human Resource Development Centre. This legacy has been deepened in recent years with the influx of various groups visiting Vinayalaya for some personal renewal and upgradation of skills. The lush green surroundings, the silence, and the rich biodiversity add to the retreat experience. So as part of the Green Campus project we hope to go deeper into helping people take on an earth-centered consciousness.
This earth-centered awareness programme will be taken forward through the conducting of Eco-Retreats (2 or 3-day programmes as well as 8-day programmes), nature walks, Eco Examens, etc. Fr. Wesley D’Costa will coordinate this section.
Vinayalaya has a well-equipped Media Room wherein short video content on ecological concerns will be shot & edited, and aired on our YouTube channel. Fr. Sumit D’Souza will coordinate the Media effort.
A Reconciliation Park is under construction outdoors at the North-eastern part of the campus. This will be a space for people to gain interior freedom amidst green lawns and also have counselling.
Infrastructure
For our Eco programmes Vinayalaya is equipped with various conference halls and even a Kiosk. There is a residential facility for about a hundred people. The dining hall has got a wide TV screen which will showcase the Eco efforts on campus and across Maharashtra.
An Eco Map of the campus will soon be designed depicting the various green spaces and green activities around campus.