Mumbai: Mandal to turn old wedding invites into Ganesh idols

A woman donates a wedding invitation card, which will be upcycled by the Versova-based Swapnakshay Mitra Mandal. Pics/Anurag Ahire

Versova-based Swapnakshay Mitra Mandal, which has been making eco-friendly Ganpati idols from papier-mache and clay for the past four years, is going one step further. The mandal has launched a campaign to collect old and discarded wedding invitation cards, which will be upcycled and moulded into next year's idols.

"Every year, we celebrate Ganeshotsav in an eco-friendly manner. Even our recent idol is also made from papier-mache and clay," said Devendra Ambedkar, working president of the organisation. Wedding invitation cards are considered sacred in all religions. Everyone is perplexed about what to do with extra ones that have been lying around. So, this year we gave people an option. They can donate them," Ambedkar added.

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Old wedding invites are collected by the organisation, which is known for its eco-friendly idols

Explaining how he goes about his work, Naresh Mestry, the mandal's sculptor, said, "Paper is soaked in water for a few days. It is then ground and mixed with clay, adding strength to the mixture. Also, we add glue to it. In this way, It takes us around two and half months to complete the idol. In the past few years, we have been able to make idols up to nine feet tall using this method. The average weight of the idols we have made so far is up to 100 kg. Such idols are environment-friendly. If an idol is sculpted only from clay, it is heaver than one made from papier-mache."

He added that to create a nine-foot-tall idol, 60 kg clay and 40 kg paper are required.

In May 2020, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued detailed guidelines banning plaster of Paris (PoP) idols, which are said to seriously pollute water bodies.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to ban PoP idols completely from next year.

Environmentalist Rohit Joshi has applauded the organisation, saying, "The mandal is making a good effort. But at the same time, it would be appropriate to use natural colours. If the entire idol were decomposable, this effort would be complete."

He added that the government should make materials necessary for making eco-friendly idols easily available to all.