Want cleaner, breathable air?

Did you know that an average family of four in Delhi produces at least 1 tonne of solid waste each year? In Gurgaon the number is only slightly better (almost 1 tonne, instead of at least). Poor waste disposal is the leading cause of air pollution, and Composting can help!

If you personally compost only 3 times a week, you could reduce your contribution by 100 kgs, and if a family does it, then that’s 400 kgs of solid waste reduced per year – in a flash! Throw a few of your friends and family in, and you could make a big difference.

Composting is the process of using Organic waste (any waste that is biodegradable and comes from either a plant or an animal), decomposing it and using its by products. 

The process includes regularly collecting organic waste, and adding it to a compost pit or pot, which is created for this purpose. At the outset you have to add a decomposing agent (there are a few including a mix of manures or even worms), and then just keep adding your daily waste to this as you go along. As the decomposition happens, it releases gasses that can be used as fuel for cooking or for running generators that produce energy. The final by product is pure, organic manure, which you can use to fertilize your own garden OR even package and sell!

Here are the types of Waste you will find at home and are easily compostable:

• Garden Waste: plants, flowers, grass, weeds and leaves.
• Kitchen Waste: vegetable and fruit peels like onion or potato skins, salad leaves, orange, mango or banana skins. Every left over bit of a fruit or vegetable can go in here. So can egg shells or uncooked meat.
• Cooked Foods: Any leftover food including meats, and even bones.
• Paper Products: Tissue rolls, packaging cardboard, writing paper, scribble pads

Composting is easy, and merely requires you to establish and then follow a process, or set it up so that someone else can follow it – like your house help.

While the concept remains the same, there are a couple of different ways in which you can compost, and the market today also includes easy to use products that can help you.

Start composting today.

Note: According to a report titled Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India, researched and published by Columbia University in collaboration with other scientific bodies, in 2011, Delhi produced .6kg of waste per person per day. At an average of four people per family, this amounts to 900+ kg of waste produced by every home! The figure for Gurgaon, stood at .5 kg of waste per person per day. Which adds up to roughly 700+ kg of waste per four member family that year.