Richards Town residents make a clean sweep

Residents of the area have taken to composting fallen leaves to clear the lined streets

The residents of Richards Town enjoy the luxury of its tree-lined avenues and the dense canopy they provide, but during winters the shedding leaves become a menace. The members of the resident’s welfare association came up with the idea of dealing with the problem in a sustainable manner.

How it started

Monisha Lobo and KG Shashidhar, members of the Richards Town Welfare Association, realised that dry leaves from the streets could be used for composting.

“I compost at home, and use mulched leaves as manure for my plants”, Monisha says. Thus, the idea germinated and was turned into community activity by the duo. “After the initiative was rolled out we received an overwhelming response”, she tells Metrolife. Within the first two hours, all the leaves that had been accumulated over a period of three weeks were sold out. “The residents of Richards Town are community-minded by default, which allows such initiatives to be pushed through”, she adds.

Leaves shed from early November till late February. In Richards Town alone over 2000 kg of leaves will be shed in the next six weeks.

Residents join hands with BBMP

The leaves are collected by the BBMP staff under the supervision of the residents. The leaves are taken to a location, where the BBMP staff segregates the leaves from some inevitable garbage that gets mixed with them. They are then bagged and handed over to the residents on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“We work very closely with BBMP staff. Projects like these cannot be done independently,” Monisha shares. As interest increased, orders were taken from non-residents as well. Most customers are members of gardening clubs or people who compost their own waste. The cost per 100 kg bag is Rs 50. “We give preference to people from Richards Town, but anything which we have over and above to spare, we reach out and hand it to residents from across the city”, Monisha shares.

Demo coming up

The members of the resident’s welfare association are in the process of speaking to the horticulture superintendent to use Richards Park to organise composting demos for the residents.

Making people aware is important as composting has got a bad reputation, they say. These demos, they hope, will change people’s perspective.

Why compost?

Traditionally, organic waste is either burnt or goes to overburdened landfills, where they decompose and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Composting, on the other hand, turns organic waste into a resource, by producing manure.