JOIN USNew device can help composting at home
Giving a boost to garbage management, a city-based green entrepreneur has come up with a portable composter that will help turn wet waste into manure.
The city generates more than 4,000 tonnes of waste everyday of which more than 3,000 tonnes is wet waste. The BBMP is still struggling to manage waste with residents near compost plants demanding their closure, citing foul smell.
Pramod Siddagangaiah was a research assistant at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) before he founded Livegreen, a firm dedicated to making eco-friendly products.
Siddagangaiah said the idea of a portable composter came after realising that the present approach to garbage crisis would be inadequate in managing the issue. “Decentralised waste management is the best way to solve landfill crisis. Composting at home will save nearby villages from being buried under tonnes of waste,” he said.
Around 1.5 kg of waste is generated by a household every day. It may take several years before the BBMP can come up with an effective solution to handle all the waste. People can give an effective solution to garbage management if half of the households in the city start composting at home.
Livegreen’s composter, named Swachh Guru, has an intake of 2 kg per day. It comes with a shredder that cuts organic waste into 0.5-inch pieces, helping increased activity of microbes and enhanced composting. The rotator mixes the mass and allows oxygen flow, further quickening the process of composting.
Once the top compartment fills up, semi composted waste will be collected at the bottom compartment where it stabilises to become finished compost, which takes around 30 days. With the BBMP planning to select centres where it will collect compost at a price, those with excess compost at home can hope to get paid for their effort.
DH News Service