Two women residents, one from R.A. Puram and the other from Mandavelipakkam, are showing the way to better waste disposal.
Dr. Satyabhama R. Chandrasekaran of R.A. Puram and Rajeswari V. Shankar of Kalyana Nagar, Mandavelipakkam have created bio-composting pits, which form the basis of their philosophy about effective way of dealing with waste.
“Satyabhama and I prepare a bed of coconut husks in each of the three pits. The husks protect the earthworms from the direct sunlight. We dispose of the bio-degradable waste daily and sprinkle water on it – it does not get dry. We add cow dung to it every week. It takes around 30 to 40 days for the waste to get decomposed. We avoid waste disposal after the trash reaches a certain level in the pit. During de-composting, the process is started in another bin. The cycle goes on,” Rajeswari said.
“I fill the pit with bio-degradable waste and add dry leaves, cow dung, and earthworms. I let it cool for a period of 10 to 15 days. The cow dung and the waste get decomposed. The more the cow dung, the better the yield. Another important factor during de-composting is constant stirring of waste materials for the earthworms to feed and multiply. The earthworms are shifted from one pit to another. A constant supply of healthy adult worms is maintained,” Dr. Satyabhama said.
After 30 to 40 days, the earthworms are transferred to another pit. The advantages of vermin-composting includes garbage reduction and zero-waste disposal. The manure is organic, and bio-friendly, Rajeswari added.
