Bharatiya Mandir in Balmoral is one of Auckland’s largest Hindu temples. The spiritual landmark and community centre aims to inspire, improve, preserve and promote the Hindu way of life for future generations of Hindus.
Love and respect for the environment is an integral part of Hinduism, and so waste reduction is important for Bharatiya Mandir. In order to reduce its rubbish footprint, the temple has been working with Auckland Council’s Waste Solutions team.
The journey so far
The first step was a full waste audit. This identified what types of materials and waste Bharatiya Mandir generates, and how much of each category is recovered for recycling or discarded as rubbish.
A critical factor in the success of the project has been the support of the temple committee, who have been enthusiastic about putting ideas into action.
As a result, the temple has run workshops on composting and edible gardening. It has also ordered reusable plates, glasses and cutlery, as disposable versions were identified in the audit as taking up the greatest volume of rubbish bin space.
Most recently Waste Solutions has provided advice on running zero-waste events. There are also plans to turn land surrounding the temple into productive, edible gardens.
A zero waste future
Bharatiya Mandir’s environmental champion Sudesh Mittal hopes the facility will become a zero-waste model for other temples and a leader in sustainability for the good of the community.
“The best action you can undertake yourself is by leading by example for the next generation – it is a most powerful way of teaching positive environmental habits.”
