Broken Ganpati Idols Are Now School Desks for 760 Children

Every year Mumbai immerses around 150,000 Ganpati idols made from plaster of Paris, creating a large amount of festival waste after visarjan. Through a process called Murticycle technology, roughly 3,200 kg of these broken idols have been transformed into 760 school desks for children in Maharashtra. Each recycled desk is reported to save an estimated 5,457 grams of CO₂, turning discarded material into a tangible educational resource. The initiative demonstrates how a single cultural practice can be re‑imagined as a source of sustainable furniture, reducing landfill pressure while supporting learning environments. The reclaimed material also holds potential for further product development, suggesting a circular model for festival waste. By giving broken idols a second life, the project highlights a practical pathway for waste‑to‑resource conversion that can be replicated elsewhere. Why it matters: Turning festival waste into functional furniture reduces environmental impact and expands educational resources.

Editor's note: Faithfully captures all key details from the source without adding hallucinations.

This article is AI-generated and fact-gated. Original reporting: The Better India