DIRT STORE MUMBAI – Recycling & Waste Management
The DIRT Store, as the name suggests, sells eco-friendly products for gardening to promote greenery in Mumbai. The Dirt also teaches waste management with their products to anyone and any group so that food waste can be reduced and reduced to better the environment. I visited DIRT, a store in Bandra West, Mumbai thanks to my friend who recommended me going. The DIRT Store is in a cute building surrounded by lots of plants and flowers that catch your eyes in the area of Reclamation in Bandra West, Mumbai. My two good expat friends have mentioned the Dirt store, to me in the past and one of them, my dear avid reader (thank you♡), has sent me an email message highly recommending me to go check out DIRT for a blog post. A few months later, I finally made my way out to the DIRT store with my camera in hand to explore a little oasis in Mumbai.
All I can say is what an inspiring and lovely place Dirt is! I had a chance to meet Natasha, one of the two founders of the organization “Dirt”, despite my impromptu visit without making an appointment (I was lucky!) who showed me around the store and the garden while explaining Dirt’s mission and contribution to the society. It is wonderful to know that The Dirt Store is making grass roots efforts to provide the knowledge to the public and educate the locals about the importance of reduce, reuse and recycle to give back to the environment we live in.
This plastic bottles in the photo below is a chair that you can actually sit on.
I was told that this Christmas tree like cover in the photos below looks prettier at night when the lights are lit. It would make a lovely Christmas tree for the Christmas season, wouldn’t it?
DIRT also sells these compost drums shown in the photo above. The instruction of how to use the tumbler would be taught by the DIRT staff so that the users would know what to do to make soil from the biodegradable waste. If you put 100 kg of biodegradable waste in the drum, it creates 10 kg of soil. Most of the original waste is air and water. Natasha asked if I smelled anything. The interest thing is that there was no odor coming out of the compost bins. If you treat food waste properly, even the smell is gone!
These pots connected with tubes and a blue tank were designed by Natasha. This system is made in a way such that when the soil needs water, the water comes out of the tank and fills the bottom space of the pots and when the spaces for the water is filled, the water stops. It’s a self-sustaining watering system. This allows the potted plants to survive without human help. How brilliant is this?
These are upcycled lamp shades. Can you tell what was used to create them?
When you ask expats about the impression they have of Mumbai, a lot of them would mention the trash seen on the streets. While it is sad to see people who do not care, there exists local people who care about the city’s environment. The transformation won’t happen over night. Probably not even in months. It might take years, but the important thing to remember is that collection of small actions to clean the city and improve environment taken by individuals will eventually improve the environment over time.
Here are great articles available about DIRT.
The Dirt store on DNA
Let’s Recycle :Natasha D’Costa, a plastic bottle mountain, and lots of DIRT on thealternative.in
DIRT
Side Notes
This is actually my second time to feature a store whose name is pronounced “dirt” on my blog. What they have in common is that they both sell products that are made of recycled materials. The first one was when I was in Jakarta, Indonesia. I featured a store called “DYRT” Design which stands for “Do You Recycle Too?” DYRT Design has beautiful fashion products made of recycling materials such as billboard vinyls, various packaging, and so forth. If you are curious about DYRT Design, please click HERE.
Love this!! It’s so awesome to see the progressive things happening in Mumbai.
Thanks, Karilyn!! I agree. It makes me love Mumbai and India even more!
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I will be back to this post – especially once we arrive at our new assignment in Namibia. I am looking into vertical gardening (we will have a yard!!!) and neat ideas for recycling and sustainability. YAY for this place! I hope there is something like it in Windhoek – or I’ll have to see if one of those compost bins can arrive via pouch! Fingers crossed!!
Hi, Nomads By Nature! Thank you!!!! How exciting you’ll be in Namibia and have a yard! I visited Windhoek with my husband 11 years ago and loved it! It’s a gorgeous place. It was very different from our post at the time, Senegal. We also visited Cape Town. The nature in that part of Africa is just amazing!
Great post, Kaho! Love the DIRT store. I’ve purchased some beautiful herbs and a bay leaf plant there–all very healthy, vigorous, pest-free and organic specimens, which are sometimes hard to find in Mumbai. The creative wall planters and compost systems are amazing. I’m sure your post will bring more traffic to Natasha’s store and help to spread awareness on her work and others in the community.
Thank you, Kati!!! Thank you for introducing me to The Dirt Store!!! I should buy some herbs from them! I thought the creative wall planters and compost systems are amazing, too!!! I would love it if my post could contribute to more traffic to their store even for a bit. Thanks for your time to leave me a comment!!
Hi Kaho!
Thank you for your informative article and beautiful photography. We must check out DYRT in Jakarta also.
Liz, thank you for reading my post about Dirt!! I think you’ll enjoy visiting DYRT! I hope they still make the white and silver recycled toothpaste case items because they were my favorite!!
Thank you Kaho for reintroducing me to Bandra and my city on the whole ! Many of the Bandra places – Pali etc I have spent good deal of time when working way back in 1990s, but now after reading all your beautiful posts, I am going to make a trip back to explore the good old worldly charm of Bandra… Loved your post on DIRT and Pali Village Cafe.. something on lines of DIRT we are doing for a friends cafe at Lonavala, will keep you informed about it via email.. But all said and done, thanks for a splendid blog…was greatly needed!!!
Parvez, thank you so much for your kind comment for me! Your words are very encouraging to me and it made me very happy that I have blogged here in Mumbai!! DIRT is really an oasis in Mumbai! Good luck with a cafe in Lanavala!!
thanks kaho, will keep u posted on that and if possible, would like to invite you once ready…best wishes!
Thank you! Best wishes to you as well!
What a great article on Dirt, Kaho. This is by far my favourite garden centre in Mumbai. I bought various herbs to grow on my windowsill and am pleased to report that the basil, mint and aubergine plants are growing strong. I also bought their organic soil and found many earthworms in it, yay! Keep up your fantastic posts, you know I love your blog andwill continue to point all newcomers to Mumbai your way…
Natasha, thank you so much for your heartfelt comment about my blog!! I am so blessed to have a reader like you and you become my motivation to continue writing. I am glad I had a chance to visit Dirt. It was truly a lovely place to be and I was happy to do a write up on them! I hope that this article can bring more people to DIRT.
This place looks amazing! I can’t believe it’s in Bandra, how fabulous, I’ll go check it out the next time I’m in the city.
Sheena, thanks for visiting and leaving me the comment! Yes, I love their concept and it’s a beautiful place. I was very impressed!
Nature is where we belong. We have to live with nature, sustain it, respect it, protect it, nurture it. Its a pleasure to see nature in its natural habitat. Great article, well photographed. May your tribe increase.
Thank you, Raja! I appreciate your visiting my blog and even leaving me a comment! It is important for our future generation, isn’t it?
Hii I am Navin Please send me the contact number if your office i will be interested in doing the plsstic recycling project