“During our meeting with Vani Murthy in Bangalore, she told us that the paper factory in Bhadrachalam imports waste paper for paper production. Surprising isn’t it? That is because the waste paper in our country isn’t treated the right way, hence unsuitable for recycling,” shrugs Aarti Choudhary, an active member of the Swachhagraha campaign.
What is Swachhagraha? Project Swachhagraha draws inspiration from the Satyagraha movement, to engage people and bring about change on a scale similar to India’s independence movement. Swachhagraha wants people to take action for ‘creating a culture of cleanliness’.
In their battle against waste management and waste segregation, the team of Swachhagraha visits colonies, parks and community centres armed with buckets and sample waste as props, aiming to educate people on waste management. It is as simple as segregating waste in the right way and not letting wet waste mixwith waste that does not decompose on its own.
So, are they asking us to raise a stink in our homes and colonies? “That is where we step in. Collecting wet waste like vegetable peel, used tea leaves and leftover food doesn’t always have odour. During our visits to parks and colonies we demonstrate the process of turning wet waste into black gold. Black gold is the fine dried dust that is obtained when wet waste turns into dried manure. This manure can be used at home or sold by colonies to earn some fund. To obtain the dried manure aka black gold, the wet waste needs to be mixed with dried coco-pit and left till it dries. The coco-pit absorbs the moisture and hence do not raise a stink,” explains Aarti.
The group informs that 60% waste generated by a household is wet waste. Urban India generates 1.5 lakh tonnes of waste every single day and Hyderabad alone generates 5000 tonnes a day. Out which less than 1% is segregated and managed scientifically. If the waste is managed properly at source, it would be 60% compostable, 30% recyclable and less than 10% would be rejected..
The five-member group comprising Aarti S Chowdhary, Shoba Patimidi, Krishnaveni Goteti, Nagananda Naresh Rayakanti, Ramana Lanka and Vrishali Ingle Patil have been working on the process of intelligent waste management even before Swachhagraha was flagged off.
Wondering how? “We are part of a group on Facebook called Intipanta, whose objective is to promote growing organic food in home gardens,” adds Aarti.
