Unexpected Results in Auroville

Auroville is a “project in human unity”, an international community based just over the Pondicherry border in Northern Tamil Nadu. The once barren landscape is now lush and green thanks to the tree planting efforts of the first inhabitants and is home to over 1800 people from India and 35 other countries. The residents are involved in a range of activities including a cashless economy, environmental regeneration, organic farming , appropriate building technology and renewable energy.

I thought that Auroville would be the mecca of environmental awareness but that’s certainly not the case when it comes to waste management. Their visitors centre is over run by hordes of tourists every day yet the three recycling bins that they have are just used as general garbage bins.

Their environmental displays don’t mention anything about the way their waste is managed and the guide leaflet and map doesn’t list it’s Eco-service. There is rubbish everywhere and the surrounding Tamil villages are clogged with garbage. I should have known really as the waste management page on the website hasn’t been updated since 2003 when bullock carts where used to collect people’s rubbish.

We were able to visit the Eco-Service and Rajamanikkam and his colleagues were very helpful and obviously working hard. We visited the current landfill and the segregation centre where waste is separated into 16 categories. The service is struggling to keep up with the workload even though they now have a truck. Auroville literature talks about a “new humanity” yet the people sorting the waste in the heat had no access to drinking water and no electricity. We found out that most of the settlements didn’t segregate and that many were still burning their waste.

Funding is a serious issue for the Eco-sevice although this needn’t be the case. Auroville has progressed and expanded due to hard work and a lot of money from private donors and governmental organizations. Have a look at the structure at the physical and spiritual centre of Auroville, the Matrimandir www.auroville.org – there is money available!

There isn’t a proper bus service that runs through Auroville so the streets are heavy with coaches, private buses, rickshaws,mopeds and motorbikes. Restaurants boast electric car charging facilities but there are not many vehicles of that kind here. If each visitor donated 1 rupee it would more than cover the amount needed by the Eco-service to promote awareness and be physically able to meet the waste demands of the community and its visitors. 

Westerners make up a large percentage of the population and as the human experiment is so environmentally and scientifically focused we thought that their segregation and waste management systems would be probably the best we’d see in India. We hoped that Auroville would provide all the solutions but the truth was saddening

The inhabitants of this place have the knowledge, the skills, the support and expertise to be able to manage their waste in a truly satisfactory way. With a little bit effort I believe they could create systems that would be a model and inspiration to all of India.

On a positive note I visited Sadhana Forest, an Auroville community practicing indigenous reforestation and sustainable living. A truly amazing place where volunteers live and work together to work on the land . My spirits were lifted when I saw the composting tubs, the recycling facilities, their fabulous handwashing contraption, the compost toilets, their urine fertilizer, the natural shampoos, soaps etc. Solar panels, homegrown veggies, the list goes on and on. Volunteers live together in large thatched huts and work from 6:30 – 9:30 am then 10:00 – 11:30am through the week with one shift at the weekend. Workshops are available through the afternoon with a range of choices from tight rope walking, yoga, Japanese culture, languages to name a few.

Sadhana Forest is providing a great opportunity for people to gain and share skills, live in a truly environmentally friendly way and to meet other people that really appreciate the planet that we live on. You get out what you put in. This wonderful, friendly place has a lot to offer and is to be commended on its work.

See www.sadhanaforest@auroville.org.in for more details.

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