As a stakeholder in higher education it is important to include practical solutions with practical implications for students’ daily life and the local community while enhancing the students’ self-esteem.
Over the years the Somaiya Vidyavihar has effectively built a sustainability component into their overall strategy in many ways. Some environmentally sustainable practices taken up by us are:
The Somaiya Vidyavihar administration in keeping with its commitment to preserving the environment is practicing Vermiculture. The project was initiated in June 2010 and it is being implemented on an ongoing basis. Every day around 200 to 250 kilos of wet waste is produced on campus and we have 8 compost pits of about 200 square meters.
The Vermiculture project has ensured proper disposal of garbage and recycling of waste. It is interesting to note that no garbage has been burnt on campus since the project was implemented. More than 17 tons of compost is produced annually. The compost formed is used as natural manure within the campus.
Our students and faculties are continuously undertaking projects to conserve the environment for eg Harnessing solar energy for the lighting systems, Designing low-cost water filters, Wood Gassifier: which converts wood into gas etc.
A Rain Water Harvesting system was implemented in June 2010 across the Somaiya Vidyavihar Campus. Every year the campus reuses approximately one crore litres of rainwater from the catchments area, also considerable rainwater is being recharged. We hope to harvest 5.5 crore litres of rainwater this year across campus. The water thus stored will supplement the growing requirement of non-potable water in the campus.
This system also serves as an opportunity for students to observe the practical implications of rainwater harvesting. This social initiative at the campus has raised the water table of the entire area impacting the environment positively.
Somaiya Vidyavihar is committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations across all our campuses. We believe that each one of us can in some capacity impact our environment for the betterment of future generations.
We aim at making our students more responsible and environmentally conscious citizens. In keeping with the goal of cutting our campus carbon footprint, we engage students, staff, faculty, and administrators in matters of waste reduction and conserving our resources.
Spreading awareness and practicing the “3 R’s” Reduce. Reuse. Recycle is our approach to enhance the current green efforts and sustainable development on all our campuses.
