East Delhi Residents Turn Waste Into Organic Compost, Guide MCD On Garbage Disposal

East Delhi Residents Turn Waste Into Organic Compost, Guide MCD On Garbage Disposal
By komal vaid, Section News Posted on Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 02:13:24 AM EST

The residents of IP Extension in east Delhi have learnt to make use of waste. For the past four months, they have been throwing away their garbage only to get it back as rich organic compost that can nourish the greenery around. To find a solution to the problem of garbage disposal, MCD has tied up with housing societies in the area to convert bio-degradable waste into manure for kitchen-gardens and community parks.
From Garbage To Garden
Composting provides a way not only to reduce the amount of waste that needs to be disposed off but also converts garbage into a product that is useful for gardening, landscaping or house plants.
WHAT IS COMPOSTING?
* Compost is the end product of a giant feast involving hundreds of different micro-organisms like bacteria and fungi. They breakdown the organic material and turn it into a rich earthy substance which acts as an excellent fertiliser.
WHAT CAN BE COMPOSTED?
* Like any recipe, your compost relies on the right ingredients to make it work. Good things you can compost include vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, plant prunings and grass cuttings.
WHAT CAN'T BE USED?
* Certain things should never be placed in your bin. Keep away cooked vegetables, meat, dairy products, diseased plants and at any cost, baby's nappies. Ideally, wet garbage should not be put into the bin.
``We get 500 kg garbage daily in the storage bins in IP Extension. Instead of dumping it in the overstuffed sanitary landfills, we put it to use in one of these bins and thus managed to produce six tonnes of rich compost in the past four months,'' says Rajiv Jain, executive engineer, MCD, who took the initiative for waste management in the area.
There are around 2000 families in IP Extension at present, which segregate garbage before handing it to the sweepers. They, in turn, store the kitchen waste like food leftovers, vegetable and meat refuse, egg shells at the compost-making site while taking the dry waste away. Adding fallen leaves from the roads completes the preparation for making compost while keeping the streets cleaner. ``The wet garbage is moved and a new layer of waste is spread over it daily. Our workers sprinkle water on it daily and a fresh stock of compost is ready every three weeks,'' adds Jain.
Unlike other methods of turning garbage into compost like using worms, this procedure is hassle-free and does not need much maintenance. However, an indispensable input in this process comes from the residents as dry and wet waste need to be separated at the household level. ``Initially, people were not ready to manage their garbage as they thought it was the sole responsibility of MCD. Moreover, they opposed setting up storage bins for the fear of foul smell. But as they got more aware of the benefits they started cooperating,'' said Geetika Goel, general secretary of Sukh Sagar Apartments, which is actively involved in the program.
These societies were annually spending close to Rs 12,000 on fertilizers and the amount was doubled for a larger society. But now with compost being manufactured under their eyes and available to them free of cost, the accounts of these societies will show more savings now.
Some of these societies had been trying to develop such landfill sites on their premises to dump and use waste but with MCD stepping in, the process assumed a larger scale. ``MCD provided men and money to give shape to our plans. The local bins which were closed three years ago -- to give way to blue-green disposal carts under the Bhagidari scheme -- could be used again to manage waste,'' says M N Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Federation of Group Housing Societies in IP Extension.
In fact for MCD, it was a way to try and gradually take away the pressure from the four sanitary landfill sites in the city, which have been overflowing with garbage for the last many years. ``We want to do away with the system of dumping waste in the city as there is scarcity of land and the amount of garbage is set to reach 15,000 metric tonnes in next few years,'' said Vijender Gupta, chairman of the MCD Standing Committee.
After looking at the benefits of this waste management program in IP Extension, MCD has taken off similar programs in Preet Vihar, Geeta Colony, Krishna Nagar, Shiv Puri and Rohini also. ``We may think of selling the compost made from garbage once we start producing it on a large scale. But it is only the public participation that can make the project successful,''