THE REUSE OF REFUSE
Individual Households, Housing Societies And Green Groups Across Mumbai Are Making Compost Out Of Garbage …..Mansi Choksi | TNN
Mumbai: She picks up the loose end of her sari, wraps it tightly around her waist, hoists a bag containing the smelliest rubbish and empties the waste into a huge brick pit stamped with an auspicious vermilion swastika. She then whips out a bottle and sprays an organic liquid on the waste to make the stench vanish.
She is Vandana, a rag-picker, who is now an important part of a silent revolution sweeping through the city;it includes many individual households, housing societies and green organisations. These groups, working separately in different areas of the city, are now doing their bit for the environment by recycling garbage and making compost out of it. Vandana has an important role to play; she is one of the foot-soldiers of this revolution after being trained in the process of composting for sustainable zero-waste management.
What these households and housing societies are doing ensures there is no dearth of manure for people who contribute to the greening of Mumbai. But the unasked-for service has a bigger meaning for the BMC; it helps the civic agency, which faces an acute shortage of land to dispose of waste.
The silent movement now encompasses housing societies like Dariya Mahal on Nepeansea Road, Pestom Sagar in Chembur and various buildings in Khar, Santa Cruz, Marine Drive and Worli, where residents have taken it upon themselves to ensure that the garbage they produce is not dumped mindlessly; and, in most cases, its the housewives who have assumed this responsibility.
Residents, in some cases, recycle the waste to produce organic manure themselves to make their gardens self-sustainable; in others, rag-pickers are outsourced from NGOs like FORCE or community-based organisations like Stree Ratna Prerna Mandal to segregate the waste and produce compost that is then either sold or given away free.
Take, for instance, Dariya Mahal in the heart of South Mumbai. Residents have set up a waste-management committee, appointed V Bhatwaregakar the convener to oversee the execution and have created a compost pit in their garden. Five enthusiastic housewives made door-to-door visits to the around-120 households in the A wing of the society to raise awareness. We even made powerpoint presentations, addressed the ladies club of our building and delivered circulars to each home, volunteer Nalini Chugani said. But not everyone in the building has complied as the domestic help, who normally handles garbage, may not have been instructed properly in each home. Chugani would, at one point, supervise the collection of garbage herself and ensure that it was segregated at the household itself. And rag-picker Fazlu from FORCE, who is paid a monthly salary of Rs 1,500 by the society, sorts out the garbage that is not segregated at homes.
The waste does not attract flies and doesnt smell at all because of the use of lime. The manure that is produced is used to maintain the building garden and the remaining, locked up in the society office, is either sold or given away to those interested in gardening.
Rag-picker Rajshri, who recycles garbage at Geetanjali Envirotech at Vile Parle, says she loves her job. It is an open space converted into a small-scale composting site by Dahisar resident Ragini Jain. Rajshri and three others collect garbage on a daily basis from nearby buildings and recycle it. Every kilogram of the manure produced from the waste is sold for Rs 4. Rajshri doesnt use cowdung and lime for composting but uses an organic liquid called GE Culture to induce decomposition. Scooping powder-like manure from a gunny sack, which smells like pure earth, Rajshri points to a four-foot tree that is only a year old. Trees grow fast and become healthy with this manure, she smiled. Kishore Kumar, who supervises Rajshri and the three others, says his family initially thought he was a fool for having chosen this job but has now realised how this is also a profitable business.
Thirty-seven-year-old Dayanand Jadhav, whose community-based organisation the Stree Ratna Prerna Mandal has been the recipient of the prestigious Urban Edge award for green initiatives, said there was some resistance to waste management. We tend to believe that garbage is something to be looked down on. There is no problem as long as its in your house but, the minute it is packed in a bag, it becomes intolerable, he said. The organisation, which has around 42 volunteers who are mostly rag-pickers, provides them masks and gloves to motivate them.
WHAT IS COMPOST?
HOW IS IT PRODUCED?
COMPOST FROM BACTERIA
WHAT IS COMPOST?
Compost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertiliser and soil-conditioner that is produced after the breakdown of biodegradable organic matter.
HOW IS IT PRODUCED?
Compost can be produced by the use of bacteria or earthworms (the second method is called vermicomposting).
YOU CAN ALSO DO IT
Making compost from garbage is an easy enough process that can be done even on your balcony
COMPOST FROM BACTERIA
You will have to place a layer that will act as the base for the process; this base can be anything, ranging from an alumimium sheet to even a glass top.
Now place the wet garbage on this bedding, which has to be sprayed with an organic liquid called GE Culture or vermiculture microbes that are available in the market to facilitate decomposition; alternatively, you can even use cowdung.
You will have to churn the waste with a spade at least thrice a day and top it with a layer of dry leaves (but this is not necessary if you use cowdung).
Add fresh garbage on the top daily.
There will be no smell and no flies if you are using the spray; you may also use lime to keep away the flies.
The compost will be ready in 25 to 60 days.
You will have to extract the powder-like manure with a sieve (with bigger holes than the type used in the kitchen); this manure will be the topmost layer of the compost system.
You will have to put the worms on the bedding (of whatever nonbiodegradable material like metal or glass) and then put the garbage on top.
COMPOST FROM EARTHWORMS (VERMICOMPOSTING)
You will have to put the worms on the bedding (of whatever nonbiodegradable material like metal or glass) and then put the garbage on top.
The worms then start decomposing the organic matter from the bottom, moving upwards to the newer feed.
The manure is believed to be ready when the worms deposit their own waste on the top layer.
You will have to remove the manure in a similar process (described above).
REGENERATION: A Vile Parle resident shows off the manure that has been produced from garbage
THE USE OF WASTE: A rag-picker oversees a compost pit at Dariya Mahal