We recommend that each individual or family should do the immersion of the clay idols at home itself in a bucket of clean water. Before you pour the water place a largish cloth on the bottom of the bucket. Once the clay has disintegrated pull the ends of the cloth together to collect the clay sediments and dry them – once dry tie the ends of the cloth together to form a potli – drop the potli at any one of our drop off points closest to you. 

Watch a video here to see a demonstration. 

Clay is a mineral that is extracted from mines – it is a non renewable resource that is limited in availability. Reusing and recycling the clay will eventually help to minimise the extraction of fresh clays. 

Please check out our map of drop off locations to find one that is nearest to you. 

You can find the map for Pune here. 

Natural clay is a mineral that is extracted from the ground. Also known as Bentonite or white clay – it can be found in several locations across India but the largest mines are in Gujarat and West Bengal – it is then transported from here to other states. 

Since clay is a mineral it is non renewable – which means that once you extract it out of the ground you cannot put it back nor can it be grown. The mining industry negatively impacts the ecology of the location where it is situated. 

Additionally when clay from one ecosystem is disposed off in another ecosystem it takes longer to integrate with the environment. 

When this happens at a very large scale as is the case in the Ganesh festival it damages the environment. 

Plaster of Paris is a man made substance – when the powder is mixed with water it undergoes a chemical reaction which cannot be reversed.

Natural clay mixes with water and absorbs it to change in consistency – however it does not undergo a chemical change – when the water is evaporated the clay returns to its original structure. 

Between the two materials it is recommended to use clay because it can easily integrate back into the environment as it is moisture absorbent. 

Currently the city of Pune does not have an ecological disposal system in place for clay nor Plaster of Paris idols. The effort of the Punaravartan campaign is to create such a system by returning the clay to the artisans. Currently the bulk of the clay and plaster of paris is thrown into quarries at the edge of the city. 

Yes you  can. However to collect and reuse it would be a better way of managing this precious resource.