Navi Mumbai village gets a toilet made of 1,000 plastic bottles

Yohita Anil Waghe, Khidukpada resident; (left) Deepak Ramjanm Vishwakarma and Siddhesh Lokare outside the newly installed toilet at Khidukpada in Kalamboli on March 11; Vishwakarma poses with ecobricks, plastic bottles filled with waste. Pics/Sameer Markande

On February 23, content creator Siddhesh Lokare and Deepak Ramjanm Vishwakarma, founder and director of CreateTogether Foundation, gifted eight families residing in Khidukpada village, Kalamboli, a toilet made of plastic bottles. The duo completed the project within a week with a little help from the women of the village and volunteers from their individual communities.

"The first day, we had over 50 people volunteer for the cause," Lokare said. The 27-year-old, who actively uses his social media reach to promote and initiate social projects, was inspired by a similar two-year-old project by Vishwakarma - a bench made of plastic bottles installed in Kalamboli's Sector 8. While the families in Khidukpada have some public toilets, they are few in number. There is no hygiene, either," the duo explained why they chose to make a toilet.

"However, making a two-foot-long bench is not the same as making a toilet. One side of the wall kept collapsing. Villagers lost hope, some even started making fun of the idea; just like I was mocked when I decided to make the bench two years ago," Vishwakarma said.

The problem, they soon discovered, lay in not giving the layers enough time to dry, and filling these bottles with less waste, such that they were not able to hold the weight. "The process is very simple," explained Lokare, "You collect plastic bottles and fill them with any kind of waste - rags and papers, for instance. These plastic bottles can now be used instead of bricks and are called ecobricks."

Vishwakarma added that this method produces a firm, permanent structure and saves a lot of money as well. It can be replicated by anyone. "The villagers told us that the next time they make any structure, including their homes, they will use 50 per cent bricks and 50 per cent ecobricks," he said.

The women of the village told this writer that while the structure was weak for the first few days, it has now dried up completely and is very strong. "We use it regularly, and have even added a bulb!" said villager Yohita Anil Waghe. The duo will take their initiative to Panvel next. They revealed that they will now try making a library for unprivileged children.