Trash to treasure

Swach Bharat Abhiyan with its concepts of waste management segregation has been a hot topic for the past few years. Taking the philosophy of the abhiyan to heart, 21-year-old Harshil Vora founded Proinnovate Upcycling Foundation, a non-profit organisation with Kabaad Ka Jugaad as its brand. 

Kabaad Ka Jugaad is all about educating and engaging people to innovatively upcycle waste to work towards a sustainable environment. It also involves resolving the landfill issue. Harshil’s team believes that recycling has its limitations and creative reuse is the need of the hour. It is this idea that led to the inception of Kabaad Mela. “People have a lot of creative ideas. All they need is a platform to showcase it and get recognised,” says Harshil.

The team claims it to be the first upcycling festival of India. Kabaad Mela follows an annual upcycling competition, and is designed to actively involve people to participate and showcase their innovations at this festival. Out of 150 participants, the top 40 teams get a chance to showcase their creations at the Kabaad Mela. Organised at Dublin Square, Pheonix Marketcity Kurla which happened on Saturday and will continue through the day today. 

Hanging Chair 
Team Final Five came up with an idea of making a swinging chair, which can be placed at home. The team made use of plastic barrel drums as the basic structure for the chair and plastic waste and foam for the cushion. Construction site rope ties the swing to it’s spot.The chair can take 60-70 kgs of weight. The team leader Omkar Bele says, “We thought of this idea to help the elderly and people with disabilities.”

Automatic meal dropper for dogs
The team leader of Team Savage, Sahil Poojari came up with the idea of making an automatic meal dropper to help feed dog on time, even when you’re not around. “There is a circuit in the machine that helps you set time according to your choice. We collected plastic jars, wooden planks and then arranged the circuit so that it operates automatically. Any pet-owner might benefit from this," Sahil explains.

Tetroof
This is a rainwater harvesting innovation, which aims to help slum-dwellers. The team used tetra packs piled on top of each other in seven to 11 layers to form a roof. A conduit pipe to help water flow, a mosquito net that would help to keep away solid waste, mosquitoes and other pests complete the set-up. Sarvesh Ayare from the team says, “This project will help slum-dwellers make use of rainwater and save half of the amount they are currently spending on roofing their homes.”