Residents of this apartment complex have not disposed of wet waste for 5 years

Mysuru: The city would not have succeeded in bagging the tag of India’s cleanest city two years in a row without active citizen participation, and the residents of Sienna Apartments at Chamundipuram illustrate this sense of civic awareness. For the past five years, the residents of this apartment complex have been managing

wet waste

from the kitchen and transforming it to

compost

, which they use to grow a garden.

In segregating waste at source, and by ensuring that a large portion of it is disposed of in an organic manner, the residents of the apartment complex have evolved a scientific method to manage trash.

Environmentalist Rekha Rohit, one of the residents at the apartment complex, took up scientific management of waste at her home as a pilot project in 2011 before encouraging her neighbours to adopt the system. “Initially, I started managing waste from my flat and segregating the waste. I then educated the women in the apartment complex, and told them that what we were discarding was not actually waste. I started off with a crude method that I found online. I learnt about

waste management

from various websites, and started trying many methods that were prescribed on them. We use three terracotta pots to compost wet waste. This method is called ‘Khamba’ or pillar method. We also have a pit for composting waste,” she said.

Highlighting the simplicity of the method, Rekha said that it could be followed by all households. “Everyone can make their own compost and use it for their kitchen garden. Vegetable and fruit peel should be put in the pot, along with buttermilk, sour curd and cow dung diluted with water. Shredded leaves and paper too can be used to absorb moisture. The mixture should be stirred once in three days – this method is known as aero-composting and oxygen is essential for decomposition,” said Rekha, pointing out that adding turmeric would help keep pests at bay.

Rekha is pleased with the fact that none of the residents in the apartment complex has disposed of wet waste in the past five years since they decided to start using it as compost. “Compost generated from wet waste is naturally rich in minerals and vitamins, which enrich the soil in the apartment’s garden,” she said.

Puttamma, a domestic help, is in charge of collecting wet waste from the residents and adding it to the terracotta pots. “I was educated about the procedure five years ago, and now, I know how to manage compost,” she said.

Sunitha Sommanna, a homemaker, who is another resident in the apartment complex, attributed the success of the endeavor to the awareness among the occupants. “The success of the project is the result of cooperation of the residents. Our wet waste never goes to the waste basket; it lands directly in the waste basket,” she said.

- Shivendra Urs