A project to design public amenities to help improve the standard of living.

1. KOODA DAANCleanliness is next to Godliness!
USE ME
Heena Vyas (26 yrs, Female)
Information and Interface Design
National Institute of Design, Bengaluru
heena.v@nid.edu | +91 8722178418

2. PROBLEM / ISSUE ADDRESSED
What are amenities?
Things that make life easier or more enjoyable are amenities - meaning they are
unnecessary, but desirable. Examples of amenities are things like escalators and toilets;
they assist in making life more convenient yet are not required for survival. Public
facilities and utilities are other types of amenities.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness
This is what we all have been taught since we were kids, but how much of this do we
practice in real life? We can place as many garbage bins in the city and the roads might
still remain dirty. What we need is to instil the motivation in every individual to use them.
My Design Intervention
My concept is the design of a Garbage Bin as a public amenity in such a way that every
individual feels the need to use it. I am not targeting the waste management process but
the process of collection of waste.
In this document I am talking specifically in the context of Mumbai as an example, but it
can be extended to any city, town or village.
Mumbai, a major city in India
With more than 18 million inhabitants, the most popular and populous city of India
6th most populated city of the world
The richest city and entertainment capital of India
Also the commercial hub of India, attracting thousands of immigrants from all over the
country
This has resulted in a spike in urban poverty giving rise to slums in Mumbai. According
to statistics 62% of people live in slums, making it a considerable percentage of the total
population of Mumbai.
Even as the Census figures indicate a reducing population growth in the city as
compared to the previous decades, the garbage generated by Mumbaikars over the past
one year has grown by an enormous amount. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation’s (BMC) environment status report (ESR) for the year 2011-12, the
exhausting capacity of dumping grounds is set to make garbage disposal a matter of
serious concern in the future.
Presently there are very few garbage bins, and the ones present are already overflowing
with no one to clean them
Though the city boasts of being so advanced, every year in monsoons city drains get
clogged causing floods in Mumbai. A major reason for this is garbage in the sewage
which results in clogging.
There have been many “zero garbage” campaigns in Mumbai but they have never been
100% successful. The basic civic sense is what lacks among people. There are drives that
involve active participation of private property owners and housing societies and the
corporation also levies substantial fines against those who fail to comply in the recycling
of garbage. But until and unless each Mumbaikar as an individual doesn’t take the
responsibility of managing his own garbage, these kinds of drives will not succeed.

3. DESIGN CONCEPT
Brainstorming
Public amenities as such was a very
broad topic to select from. I tried
brainstorming on various topics as shown
in the figure alongside. In order to make
the scope of selection narrower, I
selected Mumbai as my target and
researched on the problems regarding
public amenities, existing in Mumbai.
Arriving at final idea!!
I have my vacations and I am back home in Mumbai. The other day I saw a lady, in her
thirties rushing towards an oncoming train at peak office hours at Dadar station, when
suddenly she threw some old tickets from her pocket on the station. I rushed to her and
said that it was inappropriate for an educated woman like her to do so but all that she said
to me was “When in Rome, do as Romans do” and rushed again to board her local.
Intrigued I walked around the station to look for a bin but couldn’t find one.
This is where the idea of a much required garbage bin struck me. Whether on railway
stations, roads or any public area, well designed garbage bins are required, which would
not only facilitate disposing waste but also motivate more and more Mumbaikars to do so.
The name of my garbage bin is “Kooda Daan” where,
Kooda = Garbage / Trash
Daan = Donate
So, donate your valuable garbage for a productive cause and help your city be clean,
green and disease free.

4. RESEARCH & CONCEPTUALIZATION
Cleanliness attracts Cleanliness and Garbage attracts Garbage
If a corner on the road is filled with garbage, everybody will throw garbage in that corner
rather than in a clean area. So why not get rid of dirty corners itself? If there are bins
provided, people will not litter places around.
Basic civic sense
One of the major reasons why people lack the sense of hygiene and cleanliness (which
has NOTHING to do with somebody being poor / rich, educated / uneducated, or corrupt /
not corrupt) is the lack of education and a sense of belongingness. An Indian when abroad
will follow all rules of hygiene in public places, but in India he again litters like everybody
around him. Why is that so? There is a very well known saying in Hindi, “Taali ek haath se
nahi bajhti (it takes two hands to clap)”. So, while it is true that he tends to not feel
responsible and accountable to keep his city clean, it is also true that the government
provides very little opportunities for the taxpayers to do so. It has to be taught at a very
basic level in school itself about not only cleanliness and its benefits but also to question
the wrong doer and make him accountable. As a child, I was taught the importance of
cleanliness in school when sweeping and swabbing were a part of my educational learning
and that is why this issue is close to my heart.
Taking the example of the same lady at Dadar station. I asked her not to litter the station,
she walked past me arguing with me. If another person would have questioned her, she
would have maybe ignored him too. But if everybody around her questions her and makes
her accountable for littering the station, she might not do it again.
Clean city, Green city
Placing garbage bins will help keep the city clean, but will it ensure a green city?
The waste disposed can be segregated into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.
There could be periodic checks to ensure proper segregation. The biodegradable waste
can then be used to make compost and the same will be used for plants planted in the
trash cans.
Garbage used for
Making compost, a key ingredient in organic farming
Generating electricity
Recycling paper consequentially also saving trees
Producing Bio gas
Metal scrap recycling
Religions, a soft spot in India
In many metros today, there are murals of deities in public places so that people do not
urinate or spit alongside the pathways. Similar attempts should be made in all the places
to stop people from not only urinating or spitting in public places but also from throwing
garbage.
Trashcans can be beautiful!
The trashcans should be beautiful, clean and inviting so that the common man feels like
using them. They can be made from recyclable material as well. Beautiful but inexpensive
so that they can be deployed in huge numbers.

5. FINAL PRODUCT
Thermocol Model of Concept
As a prototype, I made the model in thermocol to get a final shape of the product.
Front View
Biodegradable Waste Non-biodegradable
Waste
How Biodegradable Is Your Trash?
The following chart outlines the estimated
amount of time it takes these everyday
household items to decompose when they
are exposed to light and air.
Banana peel 2 months
Notebook paper 3 months
Comic book 6 months
Wool mitten 1 year
Cardboard milk carton 5 years
Wooden baseball bat 20 years
Leather baseball glove 40 years
Steel can 100 years
Aluminum soda can 350 years
Plastic sandwich bag 400 years
Plastic six-pack ring 450 years
Polystyrene foam cup Maybe never
Car tire Maybe never
Glass bottle Maybe never
Side View
Base of bin fastened
with screws to avoid
Push to throw trash theft of the garbage bin
Segregated sections for
Biodegradable and
Non-biodegradable
wastes.
I am the Golden Jade plant
and I get my nutrients
from compost made from
trash donated by you.
Thank you to help me
keep your city CLEAN &
GREEN!!
मैं हूँ गोल्डेन जेड पौधा
और मुझे मेरा पालन
पोषण मिलता है आपके
दान किये गए कूड़े से बने
खाद से. आपके शहर को
हरा भरा रखने में मेरी
मदद करने के लिए
शुक्रिया.
Top View
Final Product

6. CONCEPT NOTE
In Conclusion:
I wanted to design a product which had more than just its normal usage. From some
important trivia about biodegradable materials, to a slip attached to the plant with its
name, this bin is more than just a waste discarding product.
Following are some of the key points of Kooda Daan:
Kooda Daan comprises of two compartments, one for biodegradable waste and the other
for non-biodegradable waste
There would be regular cleaning of the bin to ensure that cleanliness is maintained and
is encouraging for everybody to use it
An alarming 62% people live in slums and slum inhabitants are generally assumed to be
uneducated and therefore ignorant of the importance of health and hygiene. Kooda Daan
targets the entire city regardless of such demographic disparity in Mumbai.
Trained workers from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) would check for proper
segregation of the waste
After proper checking they would send the biodegradable waste for making compost
As shown in the figure previously, the bin would have a chart to show some values of
estimated time taken by some of the materials for degradation, for the general
knowledge of people. This could also give an idea to people who want to make their own
compost at home.
Every plant in Kooda Daan will have a note attached with its name on it
The bins would be of recyclable plastic in white and green as shown in the figure. This
would be much cheaper than stainless steel and economic to mass produce.
There are many bins in the market today with sensors to automatically open and close
it. However, I refrained from adding any sensors in my design keeping in mind the large
population of Mumbai and the probability of the sensors getting spoilt adding to the cost
of repairs.
Normally people do not like to touch waste bins because of which they throw garbage in
the open. To avoid this bins would be kept very clean, like they would be in our houses,
to refrain public from littering the city. Also, pedals can be provided to open and close
the bins.
The bin is fastened to the ground with screws to avoid any kind of theft
These bins will be placed on all bus stops, outside and inside railway stations, near
schools, in gardens, on skywalks, on the promenade in big societies, slums, etc. to
eradicate garbage from the city completely
कृपया अपना "कूड़ा दान" करें और अपने शहर को हरा भरा बनाएँ
Thank You