Aerobic composting methods

I tried in vain to get this write-up published before Diwali so that our friends could gift a composter instead of recyclying last year’s Diwali gifts 🙂 – but it just reflects on my poor PR skills and inability to communicate with media people that it did not surface. Marketing is not my forte – teaching is – and the fact that I can’t butter people makes it worse!! But I hope one will be able to share some insights with the new members on the forum here. I regret not all suppliers of solutions are mentions – but this is just a pointer to start exploring further.
More than 30 of us had been home composting in Nirvana before the waste management system was set up and is now almost ready for use. By composting the kitchen waste, waste automatically gets segregated – segregation does not mean that you have to put your hands in your bin. You just take the responsibility for the waste generated by you and manage most of it very easily within the confines of your home. I am experimenting with 4 different kinds of composters including a leaf composter (from Daily Dump). Three aerobic and one anaerobic. I do not let a single leaf fly out of my home or go waste as they are the essential source of carbon that the soil needs to nourish itself. Compost generated from my home not only nourishes my garden, the common areas in Nirvana but is also gifted to family and friends.
Devjani has been composting with an erstwhile Sintex aerobic composter for the past 15 years in Sushant Lok. Fuss free and simple, she acquired one when waste management was not spoken about. But Sintex does not seem to be having these composters in production anymore. She puts in the kitchen waste in one compartment and harvests ready compost from the other.
A great start is made by people who compost at home. They not only inspire others but also demonstrate how easy it is to manage 95% of your waste at the home level. There is very little that goes to the landfill after that as the dry waste is sent to the kabaddi wallahs or recyclers as it has not been dirtied by the kitchen waste. People who compost at home can show their communities the way forward in managing their waste within their complexes. Communities which have members composting their waste are the ones which are quickly converting to managing their waste within their premises which reduces the burden on the Bhandwari landfill. Keshav Jaini has been using the Eco Bin in his flat in Garden Estate for the past two years and also initiated the community composting project within Garden Estate last year.I encouraged Nirvana to set up our waste system.

AEROBIC COMPOSTING:
Air is needed for this method of composting. Daily Dump Khambha is ideal for homes with a covered balcony or a garden. Each day’s waste from the kitchen is emptied into it with a handful of leaves and a little bit of the accelerator to initiate the microbial activity. The dry brown leaves or cocopeat or sawdust help to absorb the moisture. The accelerator could be sour buttermilk or even diluted cow dung. It needs to be stirred after a few days and within 30 to 40 days, compost is ready. There is absolutely no guilt in sending the waste out into the landfills to generate methane. Veena Padmanabhan, a resident of Richmond park has been an old user of the Khambha and also helped to initiate waste management in her community way back in 2014. Vibha Sachdev, Poonam Bir Kasturi , Neena Dhawan Daily Dump and Neeharika Nandyal Sampoorna Solutions offer aerobic composters.
http://kasamuktha150.wixsite.com/stonesoup
ANAEROBIC COMPOSTING:
Ideal for small apartments which do not have space for an outdoor composter. In the first stage you just add your waste daily and cover it with the microbe powder that comes with the bins and shut it. Once full, leave the bin’s contents to turn to pickle. In the second stage, layer the pickle with soil or with some compost and leave it aside for a few days in a gamla or any container which has small holes in it. The microbial activity starts and within a few days wonderful Earth smelling compost is ready to nourish your soil.
Eco Bin and Smart Bin are great products and can be ordered online.Vijay Satish
http://myecobin.in/
http://www.greentechlife.in/
SEGREGATION:
http://www.2bin1bag.in is by far the best resource on how to segregate and where to source segregation material from. Archana Prasad Kashyap, and Malini Parmar are two super women sharing information as an open resource. Garden Estate and Nirvana Country in Gurgaon use 2bin1bag segregation. The site is very comprehensive and has ample composting resources, guidelines and connects as well.
AWARENESS
Please hold small ‘community’ level workshops to engage with the children and the younger generation and encourage home composting to make the dream of a waste-free India come true. To compost, one does not necessarily have to buy an expensive composter as composting can even be done in a bucket with holes, a Matka with a few holes drilled into it, a pit in the ground or a cane basket. One just has to understand the principle and get creative this Diwali/new year. So mindless gifting is out – give gifts which change people’s lives.
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First posted on 13 November 2016
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ncrwastematters/posts/1015263035267534/