A number of people both here and otherwise ask me what I do here. It gets a bit complicated when I mention that I work full time and study.

To understand what I am trying to do, you will need to have a crash course in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management (I had to do the same :) ). Anyway all over the world, it is the municipalities, city and county councils who collect household and commercial waste from the streets. After the waste is collected, to save on costs, it is carried to what is called as a transfer station. Usually outside city limits or in poorer areas in developing countries, this transfer station is sort of a collection point for all the waste. Usually a transfer station depending on its design handles waste of a county or two counties. Transfer stations serve an economic purpose: The biggest cost getting waste to a landfill is in transport. In transfer stations, waste from different parts is collected, compacted in a bigger unit and then dumped in the landfill. This saves in freight costs apart from being able to build a better supply chain and logistics infrastructure. Apart from landfills, sometimes they have incineration capabilities so that the volume that goes in to the landfill is reduced.

In developing countries or poorer countries where there are no formal recycling programs in place, there is a fledgling recycling industry composed of recyclers (small or medium size enterprises) and people at the bottom of the social ladder. These people usually rummage through the garbage and collect things that can be recycled: metals, plastic cardboard etc. The recyclers then pay money (which is way below market price) for these goods. It is a very difficult life for these people who live endemic poverty, lack of opportunities and education not mentioning the obviously unhealthy lifestyle being exposed to waste without any protection.

They work in very difficult and unhygienic conditions. My project involves transforming one of the transfer stations in to a sorting and ewaste collection station. Currently the sorting work is carried out under the sun, we plan to put in place a mechanical sorting line with sorting stations and equip the sorters with protective equipment and a covered facility. As a part of this, I am working with the Ministry of Local Government (Environmental Division) here to design a small sorting center using my experience at factory layouts and installing machinery at Honda (where I used to work). We intend to open tenders for this project soon once the basic design specifications are in place. The plan is to have a mechanized conveyor system to with work stations on the side to help in sorting process.

The other side to this is once the sorting station is built by the middle of this year, we plan to put in place the first island wide ewaste collection center where people can drop in their ewaste or local municipalities can undertake collection campaigns and store the material in the center. We have built relationships with recyclers with the aim of getting them to come in to the center and take the electronic and electrical goods away for disposal, reuse, rework. We are conducting waste profiling surveys right to see what kind of waste people have in their homes. This way we transform (ir)regular and unstructured waste sorting in to something that is a bit more hygienic and build a sustainable framework around ewaste for the country which can then be replicated to other transfer stations here and in the neighborhood.

We as humans generate tremendous amounts of waste due to our economic activity. It is truly unsustainable. We are all made aware of this on TV and through commercials but experiencing it firsthand came as a shock to me. To put things in perspective: This tiny island which is a developing country and generates close to 1400 tons of waste per day and close to 98% of it goes to landfills. Think of it this way: an island of 1.1 million people generates waste to fill up 300 standard size tractor-trailers every day!!! This is not even a close to being the worst offender. Granted much of it is green waste which can be turned into compost but without proper facilities to handle these things, inevitably it ends in landfills with other not so green (pun intended) things. This is touted as being a paradise with a semi-mature ecotourism industry. My focus is on ewaste which is admittedly more toxic and has a compelling business proposition for both Government and Industry. In any case, I am amazed to see the impact of our lifestyle first hand.

Climate change and tackling it by being greener are here to stay. That said there is an unbelievable potential in Green technologies and plenty of money and economic opportunity around it. I think the potential to change parallels the IT revolution and we are at the very early stages.

Oil and Natural Gas futures markets are one of the biggest scams of the late twentieth century. Obviously the demand is much higher but so is the supply. People make money speculating the price of these commodities for the next month just take a look at the revenue and income figures for the sector. Our addiction to oil is hard to comprehend. I have seen the money it generates and the destruction it causes.

I do sincerely beg all of you who are reading this to do something to reduce your impact on the planet. I am not kidding. Please make it a resolve to do something this year to help in changing the situation in whatever little or big way you can. We used to have giant tortoises, Dodos and many many other species that have been completely wiped off. When you visit the natural history museum here you see the wildlife that was here all stuffed in sort of a eerie silence. You are shocked that it is not there anymore. After my visits I was quite stunned because it is the first time I saw something so beautiful that is no longer there just because of our activity. It is real over here. Maybe because it is so close and in front of your eyes or because being a small place you can imagine seeing a tortoise by the sea I don't know what it is but being here has made the problem real for me.

As far as this project is concerned, the next step is for me to go to Madagascar. I am really looking forward to that experience: there they run a computer refurbishment shop there and I am invited to visit them to see how used computers are being given to schools. I am looking forward to the trip not just for the "work" aspect but to visit Madagascar is very exciting. More on that some other time.

In all of this, I have to say I am completely grateful for my company. I usually don't mention my work here but I work at Microsoft (yes that one!). We get a lot of flak for a lot of things from a number of people. I used to contribute to Open Source and joined this company to see the other side and as I get older I can see appreciate both sides.

However, none of this is possible without the commitment of my manager and senior management of the company in particular. They have been extremely supportive and demonstrated a lot of flexibility towards my schedule and commitments. I have had several meetings with Microsoft Indian Ocean Island's Citizenship team and some of the work they do is truly awesome for a for-profit company. It is truly fantastic and humbling. I do think that it is one of the things that the company does so well starting from right at the top with Bill Gates and it deserves way more credit than it gets.

This has been exciting and very tiring at the same time. Exciting because this is something that is completely new but tiring because there are times when I wonder about the work and if it is worth it and if it will work out. Overall although it has been physically tiring it is a very enriching experience and has expanded my horizons both internally and externally. I suppose there is not a lot really that I can ask for. I am at the tail end of the first phase of the project and hopefully this will work out, I say hopefully because things like these need a bit of luck and some support.

The people are here can be best described in one word: gentle. Mauritius is very multi-cultural with significant Creole, Indian, Chinese and French populations and I have had a chance to meet and make friends with a lot of people. While there is a strong sense of identity and cultural backgrounds, the hospitality, humility and attitude towards life and what is important is striking.

Apart from the above, the beauty of this place is quite unbelievable. I have been a complete fish here: swimming in the ocean, doing a lot of wind surfing and just lying around by the beach. I had a few opportunities to relax and take it easy and just laze around in the sand. This is very very close to paradise. Please drop me a email if you want to see some of the pictures.

Because of this, one of my to-do things in life is to buy a speedboat. I absolutely loved the speed and the power. I suppose it touched a raw nerve being a guy, the way some cars do to some other people.

So much more to write here about life, personal things and some things that I realized while over here. Mostly because of the new people and friends that I made. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience and it is not over yet. The point of an education in my mind is to give you the right thinking tools to be a better person. You don’t need to go to college to be a better person but it works for me. I would never be able to do this if I was not at my university and for that and many many other things I am very thankful.