Composting And Organic Waste Management At Mumbai
The latest report by Mumbai civic body states that 73% of the garbage that makes its way into the city’s dumping grounds is food waste. Only 5% of the city’s waste is segregated, according to the report. Three-fourths of the city’s total waste has been demarcated as wet, organic waste. When this mixes with other forms of dry waste such as plastic, debris, and cloth, the process of decomposition takes much longer and as a result, the suppressed methane that is generated at dumping grounds easily ignites fires.
A step towards addressing the problem Earth5R team installed organic composting units at Silver Crest, Raheja Vihar, Chandivali, Powai, Mumbai. These units can process approximately 1.5 Metric Tons of organic waste into compost. It is interesting that the building was already segregating the waste. The dry waste is already getting to the recycler and with the installation of organic waste composting units by Earth5R, Silver Crest building is moving towards zero waste.
The members of Silver Crest building Mr. Rajesh Verma and Mr. Mukundan have been very proactive in making their building more sustainable. They have been taking initiatives and are an inspiring example of citizen leaders to reduce the carbon footprint of their building.
On 26th January Mumbai based environmentalist and founder of Earth5R, Saurabh Gupta conducted Green Citizens workshop for the residents of Silver Crest building, They received training in waste segregation, dry and wet waste management, e-waste management and composting.
They were also given working demonstration of the composting unit installed by Earth5R. With this, the building stopped giving it’s organic waste to the municipality and started processing it inside their premises with the help compost tumblers.
Silver Crest building in Raheja Vihar has already finished the first cycle of composting with the Earth5R team constantly supporting the building with training and inspection. The quality of first compost was found to be of superior quality. It was dark in colour with a nice rich earthy smell. The entire compost has been utilized for the garden.
It is witnessed that plant with this compost after a week shows a sign of better growth. While the entire first compost generated by the units is utilized by the gardens, the citizens of this building are willing to donate excess compost to farmers during the next cycle.
The Earth5R team will like to thank citizens of Silver Crest building for segregating and processing their waste at source. Earth5R acknowledges citizens of this Green Citizens and Environmental Champions.
-Reported by Ketul Patel