JOIN US A small but growing group of residents in the City has resorted to the Gandhian principle of ‘being the change’ in dealing with the garbage crisis, using well known methods of recycling garbage.
“It bothered me to see garbage everywhere I went. I decided to take things into my own hands and sought to find what I could do to better the situation,” said Vijayanand, a resident of Domlur.
This search for a solution led him to the concept of composting waste at home, something that is well known in garbage disposal. This was about one and a half years ago and he has not looked back since.
“We are a family of four and produce nearly one and a half kg of wet waste per day. All this goes into the one-tier unit of composting waste in my house.
No waste is wasted,” he said. This unit comprises three earthen pots where the wet waste from Vijayanand’s kitchen is mixed with dry waste like dry leaves, twigs and saw dust. “This mixture is churned and kept for 15 days, after which it becomes compost” said Vijayanand.
Not content with merely discovering a solution for a part of his waste woes, Vijayanand chose to spread the message.
The enthusiasm has been infectious as a number of his friends have been inspired to follow the method. Residents of his locality are trying out individual means of recycling waste.
Others like Sivakumar, a resident of R K Puram, has found another effective method of recycling waste.
“I was introduced to the concept of vermicomposting (using earthworms for composting) seven weeks ago and have found it to be very effective. Earlier, I used to throw all my waste, but now I segregate it and put it to good use,” said Sivakumar.
Cost effective
“My earthen pots cost me about Rs 1,200. However, one can use any container like plastic jar or flower pot to mix the dry and wet waste. It is the only expenditure in the process,” said Vijayanand.
Sivakumar treats nealy 15 kg of waste from his house with earthworms that cost only Rs 150.