Striking green in food waste

Bengaluru generates over 5,000 tonnes of solid waste each day, and has almost lost its ‘Garden City’ title. Insurmountable heaps of garbage stay strewn over roads and sidewalks. What if a part of that waste could be put to some great use by returning it back to nature, and in the end, also being able to grow something ‘fruitful’ from it?

Such an idea struck Ravindra Karnad, an electronics engineer, over three years ago. He realised that a befitting solution to the food waste problem is to turn it all into compost, which can be used to grow one’s own vegetables and fruit, through a ‘green, bio-degradable’ venture.

Karnad’s young firm Prudent Eco Systems develops community and home composters under the brand ‘Marigold’ — a 100% local product, manufactured in Bengaluru. “It was in 2014, when I decided to develop some environmental solution. And composting was my first thought as I wondered about the garbage situation in Bengaluru,” says Karnad, who began to use his engineering skills to improvise on the rather simple concept.

“I worked around the simplicity of the product, with what is called passive technology — containing almost no moving parts, and almost no maintenance. I found a way to harness natural gifts like fresh air, sunlight, agricultural waste, and garden waste, and to avoid using special agents, like microbes or enzymes for the process. I also managed to use minimal plastic in the composter,” Karnad says.

In a bid to make the composter scalable, and reaching as many houses as it could, the firm began to develop community composters, deploying the innovations in some apartment complexes in Bengaluru. Recently, Prudent Eco Systems launched Marigold Mini solar composters for independent homes.

Marigold applies the aerobic composting method, where it uses thermophile bacteria, which generates heat. “Our composter is like a green house that takes in sunlight and warms up the waste. Its construction enables aeration, and at the same time, it’s built of steel to prevent heat loss. This is an efficient all-weather composting solution,” he says, adding, “As far as aerobic composting is concerned, in our process, we keep the waste for only 12 days. Kitchen waste is chopped and mixed with a certain proportion of natural additives like leaf powder, coco peat or sawdust.”

Highlighting the Bengaluru market, Karnad states, “There are opportunities here, along with awareness. Activist groups have worked for the community, due to which even Karnataka adopted the rule to segregate waste at source. People have begun to invest in technologies, and are into home composting.”  

In terms of portfolio, Marigold’s composters range from 19 litres, going upwards to 540 litres, with after-sales service and composting aid being offered.

“We also help apartments grow organic vegetables with the compost they generate,” Karnad says, adding that around 700 homes (a mix of apartments and independent houses) in Bengaluru have become customers, apart from a few industrial setups. The bootstrapped company would be entering Mysuru and Delhi soon with Marigold, and may also seek VC funding next year.