Up until 2014, Kern Agarwal and Ranjani Prabakaran held steady jobs at Standard Chartered Bank. “But one fine day, we decided to quit and plunge full time into organic farming. We’d set up The Urban Farmers, a start-up incubated at Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA). One thing led to another and today we have Carbon Loops, an initiative that works with large institutions to segregate waste, create compost and then send it back to organic farmers, in a bid to close the loop in the food industry,” says Agarwal, whose first project at Loyola College is set to be inaugurated on October 2.
The decision to quit steady jobs for the couple did not come easy. They faced their share of challenges, but things are more settled now, they say. “The point is, we enjoy what we do. We want to make a difference and envision clean cities and fertile fields. We’d like to see how much organic waste we can divert from landfills and encourage as many farmers as possible to take up organic farming,” he says.
The Urban Farmers project had them interact with farmers across the state, the husband-wife duo successfully convinced several farmers to turn to organic farming.
The initiative was also a bid to promote farming on rooftops in the city. “It was during the course of our work here that we realised that a lot of food that is passed on from rural to urban India ends up as solid and sewage waste. The question that then arose was ‘How do we close this loop and reduce pollution?’ All of that waste could instead be put to much better use such as composting,” says Agarwal.
And that’s how Carbon Loops came about and was set up in March this year at LIBA. “What we do is work with people and encourage them to segregate waste at source, compost it and then supply this compost to organic farmers to increase the viability of their soil. It’s a great way for urban India to give something back to rural India,” says Agarwal, adding, “When we began working with farmers we realised that one of the biggest challenges they faced was maintaining soil fertility. This compost will help them do that.”
Their first project is with Loyola itself and work on the compost pit and biogas plant is almost complete. “The biogas plant on the campus is to process food waste, while the compost pit is for the garden. We are also in talks with other colleges to set up similar plants. They are large institutions with larger reach so our work can reach a larger audience. Also, it’s a good idea to get students involved in the process as they do a great job in spreading the word,” says Agarwal, adding, “We’re trying to bring together various stakeholders such as restaurant associations, residential complexes and groceries and sensitise them on the need for waste management. In fact, large residential societies from areas such as Padur and Shollinganallur have already reached out to us for waste management solutions.”
With about 40% of waste at landfills being biodegradable, waste management is the need of the hour. “And it’s all the more important to do so at source, since there is a risk of heavy metal contamination from batteries and e-waste,” says Agarwal.
“Which is why segregating waste at source is so important,” says Prabakaran, adding, “As responsible citizens we should think about separating waste while we’re disposing it.”
Carbon Loops plans to conduct workshops on waste segregation and composting at home itself. “For other recyclables there are lots of other enterprises such as Paperman and Kabadiwala that do excellent work. It’s all about creating awareness among people. For instance, in Bengaluru they have composting Sundays. We need more such initiatives here as well,” says Agarwal, who says the company as of now is completely bootstrapped and that’s how they intend to keep it as far as possible.
