When 82-year-old Ramasamy approached Zone 10 seeking a composting unit for his colony, the officials were receptive to his plea. It was not long before they acted on it.
The suggestion was in line with one of their goals: reducing garbage going to landfills from the Zone by at least 10 per cent.
As a result of this initiative, residents of Indira Colony (Ashok Nagar), which has 200 households don’t have to go searching for organic manure for their home gardens.
They are also saved the trouble of making it for themselves. The colony has utilised a portion of a playground in the area to set up a permanent composting structure.
“We were already composting on a smaller scale at the playground. This unit will not only help keep the playground green but also provide enough manure for use in home gardens. We are giving the manure free to anyone who asks for it,” says Ramasamy, president of Ashok Nagar Civic Exnora.
Waste generated at nearby temple and dried leaves from the playground are collected and dumped into the unit once a week, which is divided into four portions. Cow dung is mixed with the organic waste and let to compost. Some residents also dump their kitchen waste into the pit.
“The unit can accommodate around four tonnes of organic waste. We got the first batch of organic manure after six months of the composting process. I have used some for my home garden. We are also planning to provide manure to institutions in the neighbourhood which need it to for their plants,” he says.
Ramasamy himself waters the waste and turns the content regularly to help in the composting process.
A unit similar to this one has been set up by Zone officials inside the Virugambakkam crematorium.
“This unit is bigger and can take seven and a half tonnes of waste. Also, it has additional features such as a shredder and a provision for storing wet wastes. The manure from this unit is used in Corporation parks and playground in the neighbourhood. Waste comes from the nearby Koyambedu market. Also, awareness drives have been conducted through street plays and door-to-door campaign on source segregation,” says a Zone 10 official.
The zone currently generates around 630 tonnes of waste.
