All big cities in India are struggling with man-made mountains of garbage that keeps growing and speak volumes about our complete lack of consideration for the environment. However, some of our project cities like Bhubaneswar have learnt from their past mistakes. Instead of dumping waste to landfill directly, they have started processing it at micro-composting centres [MCC] and material recovery facilities [MRF] resulting in most of the waste being reused or recycled.

Instead of looking at this process of waste segregation and processing as an additional burden, this can be viewed as an opportunity where public parks are designed around these MRF facilities converting them into dynamic space with multiple uses throughout the day. It is places like these where human and waste ecosystem co-exist and provide local inhabitants with the sense that they are contributing to a living system which is in symbiosis with local ecosystems. In accordance with this, a badminton court and a nursery with a compost stall have been developed in the MRF complex at Bhubaneswar. Children and youth from the neighbourhood come and play in the premise. A refreshment stall has also been set up to ease the access to healthy beverages for the visitors. It is now becoming a place where people of all age groups like to spend their evenings.