Vishnu Priya, an architect from Chennai was taken aback to see the girls’ toilets in a government school kept locked because there was not enough water. She wanted to make a toilet that used minimum water for the disposal of waste. She also wished to find solutions to garbage and sewage problems which are prevalent in India. She travelled across India to find sustainable ways to reduce and reuse the garbage produced daily. It turned out to be a storytelling expedition; she used the camera to talk about waste disposal and waste management. ‘Meel’, a documentary by Vishnu Priya, made in the process focuses on feasible solutions that can be employed to tackle garbage, sewage and other kinds of waste disposal problems.
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‘Meel’, which means recycle or recover, was shot across the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The documentary deals mainly with three primary topics: recycle waste water, garbage and sewage. It is Vishnu Priya’s strong conviction that whatever the waste in the form of greywater or garbage or even fecal matter, it can be reused and recycled. She researched a lot and came to know about the minimum water consuming toilet mode, named eco-san toilet. The eco-san toilet uses minimal water and the waste is composted along with ash, biomass, sawdust and rice-husk to make manure. Vishnu Priya believes that several government schools where ladies washrooms remain locked due to lack of water can make use of this eco-san toilet and children, especially girls, will not suffer anymore.
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In ‘Meel’, Vishnu Priya offers easy solutions to manage waste. For example the bathing water which goes to the drain can be used for non-potable purposes like watering plants, washing vehicles and flushing toilets. Likewise, non-biodegradable items can be recycled and reused. According to her, segregation of waste at source can save the environment. When segregated biodegradable waste becomes manure and the non-biodegradable goes for recycling. With very little waste going to the landfill, there won’t be heaps of garbage everywhere. Starting with individual houses, the model can be applied across apartments and gated communities. Once there is proper segregation of wastes in place, there will be no need for the sanitation workers entering manholes and risking their lives to clean clogged drains. “With small changes in lifestyle, we can avoid burdening nature with additional waste,” Vishnu Priya says.
Vishnu Priya is optimistic that her efforts to create awareness among people will yield positive results. Though she has opportunities to go on with her filmmaking career, she wants to continue on her mission of creating awareness about ‘garbage and sewage problems’. She also wants to engage in ‘earth architecture’ an entirely natural form of architecture that doesn’t use concrete or cement but mud and stones.
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