Daan Utsav: Giving Back to Mumbai, One Act at a Time
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What does it mean to give? Is it about donating money, offering a gift, sharing your time, or doing something that makes a difference to the world around you?
Every year, from October 2 to 8, Daan Utsav, India’s largest festival of giving, brings people together to celebrate generosity in its many forms. It encourages us to look beyond material gifts and recognise that giving can also mean caring for the environment, sharing knowledge, and taking responsibility for our communities.
At Project Mumbai, Daan Utsav is an opportunity to turn this spirit into action. This year, we brought citizens together through initiatives focused on plastic recycling, textile waste management, and fire safety awareness, demonstrating how small individual contributions can create a larger collective impact.
Here’s a look at how we celebrated the joy of giving this Daan Utsav.
Giving The Daan of Plastic
Plastic waste continues to be a challenge for our cities, but responsible collection and recycling can help change the way we manage it. Through the Project Mumbai Plastic Recyclothon, we encourage citizens to segregate and contribute their plastic waste instead of allowing it to enter the general waste stream.
A flagship initiative of Project Mumbai, the Recyclothon has conducted over 100 collection drives and is recognised twice in the Limca Book of Records. Through regular drives and community participation, the initiative collects approximately 2 to 2.5 tonnes of plastic every week across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
During this Daan Utsav, we continued our efforts across Mumbai’s Central and Western railway lines, making it easier for citizens to contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable city. The collected plastic is channelled to recycling partners, where it can be processed into useful products, including T-shirts and benches (How a Plastic Bottle Becomes a Public Bench – PROJECT MUMBAI).
Our plastic collection highlights this Daan Utsav:
- 1,164.7 kg collected on the Central Line on October 3
- 1,105.5 kg collected on the Western Line on October 10
- 48.5 kg collected through the Western Railway plastic collection drive
- 422 kg collected from schools across Mumbai
These collections represent more than just numbers. They reflect the participation of citizens who chose to take responsibility for the waste they generate and contribute to a more circular approach to resource management.
Kaapad: Cloth Collection Drive
Giving does not always mean giving something new. Sometimes, it means ensuring that something we no longer need can still be useful to someone else.
Through Kaapad, Project Mumbai’s textile waste initiative, we collect unused clothes, linens, and other fabrics from citizens, helping divert textile waste from landfills and channel it towards reuse, recycling, or repurposing.
This Daan Utsav, Kaapad collection drives were conducted across approximately 20 locations on Mumbai’s Central and Western railway lines. The initiative invited citizens to look at their unused fabric differently, turning a routine household clean-out into an opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable city.
Our Kaapad collection highlights this Daan Utsav:
- 221 kg collected on the Central Line on October 9
- 1,181.9 kg collected on the Western Line on October 10
Together, these drives collected 1,287.9 kg of fabric. The collected material will be sent to recycling centres for further processing, reuse, or repurposing, depending on its condition and suitability.
Through Kaapad, we are reminded that responsible giving also means rethinking what we discard. Extending the useful life of materials is one way each of us can contribute to reducing waste and building a more sustainable Mumbai.
Agni Rakshak: Giving the Gift of Safety
While environmental sustainability was an important part of our Daan Utsav efforts, giving can also mean equipping people with knowledge that may one day save a life.
Agni Rakshak – Making Mumbai Fire Safe, an initiative launched by Project Mumbai in partnership with the Mumbai Fire Brigade, works towards building fire safety awareness and emergency preparedness among citizens.
Through practical workshops conducted by trained professionals, participants learn how to identify fire hazards, respond to emergencies, and understand the use of basic firefighting equipment. The programme brings essential safety knowledge to schools, housing societies, and workplaces across Mumbai.
This Daan Utsav, we conducted two fire safety training sessions, bringing more citizens into the fold of community safety.
- October 3: Approximately 60 participants
- October 10: Over 75 participants
With more than 135 participants across the two sessions, these workshops helped spread awareness about fire prevention and preparedness.
The gift of knowledge extends beyond the person who receives it. Participants can share what they learn with their families, colleagues, and neighbours, creating safer and more informed communities. In this way, every person who learns how to respond to a fire emergency can help spread the spirit of giving further.
Want to contribute to a safer Mumbai?
Giving That Goes Beyond a Week
This Daan Utsav, Project Mumbai brought together citizens around three important ideas: giving plastic a second life, ensuring unused fabric does not go to waste, and sharing knowledge that can help save lives.
From plastic and textile collection drives across railway lines to practical fire safety training, each initiative offered citizens a meaningful way to participate. Every kilogram collected and every participant trained was a step towards a city that is more conscious, responsible, and prepared.
Daan Utsav may be celebrated over a week, but the spirit behind it can continue throughout the year. It lives in the decision to segregate our waste, donate what we no longer need, volunteer our time, or learn a skill that could help someone else.
At Project Mumbai, we believe that giving is not limited by what we own or how much we can contribute. It begins with recognising that each of us has something to offer.
