Archive · 1 Sep 2026
Mumbai Festival Footwear Waste Recycled for Tribal Children
After a big Ganpati celebration in Mumbai, many people left shoes and sandals on the streets.
BMC workers collected about one dumper-load of footwear.
Instead of throwing it away, they gave it to the Green Sole Foundation.
The foundation will recycle useful parts of the footwear at its Bhiwandi factory.
It will use those materials to make new shoes.
The new shoes will go to tribal children and other students who need them.
Some of the footwear will be distributed in rural parts of Maharashtra.
This plan helps children while reducing the amount of waste sent to dumping grounds.
BMC workers collected approximately one dumper-load of discarded footwear after Ganpati processions in Lalbaug, Parel and Chinchpokli.
The footwear was handed to the Green Sole Foundation instead of being sent to a dumping ground.
The foundation will process the material at its Bhiwandi facility to make new footwear.
Finished footwear will be distributed free to tribal students and underprivileged children in rural Maharashtra.
The initiative is intended to reduce landfill waste and BMC’s solid-waste transportation costs.
- Who
- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Green Sole Foundation are carrying out the initiative for tribal and underprivileged children.
- What
- Discarded footwear from Ganpati processions will be recycled into new footwear.
- When
- The footwear was collected during night-time cleaning operations on August 29, after Saturday’s processions.
- Where
- The waste was collected in Lalbaug, Parel and Chinchpokli, stored near Saibaba Path School, and will be processed in Bhiwandi.
- Why
- The initiative aims to provide footwear to needy children, reduce waste sent to dumping grounds and lower waste-transportation costs.
- Collected material
- Approximately one dumper-load of discarded slippers, sandals, shoes and boots
- Collection area
- Lalbaug, Parel and Chinchpokli
- Processing organisation
- Green Sole Foundation
- Processing facility
- The foundation’s factory in Bhiwandi
- Beneficiaries
- Tribal students and economically disadvantaged children in rural Maharashtra
- Annual production
- Green Sole Foundation reportedly manufactures at least one lakh pairs of footwear annually
- Funding support
- Corporate corporate social responsibility funds will support distribution