‘Go green with garden’

Popularly known as Compost Queen, Vani Murthy is considered an icon in waste segregation, composting and terrace gardening

May 14, 2019 04:56 pm | Updated 04:56 pm IST

BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 10/05/2019 :   Vani Murthy, terrace gardener and waste segregation expert, with vegetables grown on her terrace, at Malleswaram, in Bengaluru on May 10, 2019.    Photo: K Murali Kumar / THE HINDU

BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 10/05/2019 : Vani Murthy, terrace gardener and waste segregation expert, with vegetables grown on her terrace, at Malleswaram, in Bengaluru on May 10, 2019. Photo: K Murali Kumar / THE HINDU

Vani Murthy was stunned when an auto driver in Malleswaram stopped to say, “Aren’t you Vani Murthy? I am your fan. I follow all your waste segregation tips and even have a terrace garden at home!” Vani fell silent for a moment, experiencing the positive impact of her efforts to propagate waste segregation and maintain a terrace garden with wet waste compost.

Five years ago Vani said her aim was to see one million residents in the city take to waste segregation, and use wet waste compost to grow their food. “Honestly, we must have crossed the mark long ago as Bengaluru today sports more than 50,000 terrace gardens using wet compost manure. Every step of terrace gardening and composting is documented on our Facebook page; it has answers to all queries,” she says.

A small but aggressive movement that Vani and a like-minded team started in 2009 has made a huge impact on the waste management scenario in Bengaluru. “We have been advocating simple and effective ways of waste segregation and gardening. Inspired by our success, many have started a similar movement in Hyderabad too,” says Vani, speaking about the power of community-driven projects.

“Garbage is end of use for us, but there is life thriving after,” says Vani who deconstructs the composition of garbage, saying 90 % of it is resource. Studies show that kitchen waste forms 60 % of our wet waste which can become soil compost, 30 % is recyclable such as paper and plastic. The remaining 10 % is toxic waste that has to reach the landfill. “If one’s thinking on waste is clear, then need send only the 10 % to the landfill,” she adds.

Currently, she is part of the ‘Two-bin-one-bag’project, which is an attempt to get Bengalureans to sort their household waste into colour-coded bins. Green for organic waste, red for reject waste and a bag for recyclable waste

Ask the Bengalurean about her journey, especially because she is a Commerce Graduate from Osmania University in Hyderabad and she laughs. “I met a group trying to mobilise solid waste management efforts in around 2008. They were driving home the value of waste recycling. A fascinating concept of ‘seeing waste grow into something more meaningful’. I decided to be one among the crusaders.”

There are factors that can wake you up from your inaction, she says. ITC in Bengaluru had thrown open a challenge to communities to save paper. “They had asked us in a project WOW (Wealth Out of Waste) to collect one tonne of waste paper. That they said, can save 17 trees. As a challenge, in one year, we had collected one tonne of paper from 20 flats in our apartment and saved the trees,” she says.

Eighty % of waste management is in understanding what waste is all about, she says. It can be handled at the ground level, at home. Her group met Vellore Srinivasan in 2009 who had operative models for waste management, decentralised solutions that worked wonders at CMC Vellore. “There is no waste in Srinivasan’s dictionary. That was another inspiration for all of us,” says Vani.

Another day that Vani never forgets is her visit to a landfill in Mavallipura on the outskirts of the city that left her feeling very guilty. She and her team felt that the only way to manage waste was to decentralise the system.

“I am not going to be part of this irresponsible waste segregation that is causing water, soil and air damage,” she said.

It has been five years since Vani started the initiative of ‘Swachagraha’ a hands-on drive promoting wet waste management, composting and terrace gardening through three different steps: compost at home, grow food on your terrace, and cook your own produce. “I grow many greens such as spinach, fenugreek, coriander, amaranthus; seasonal vegetables such as brinjal, and beans; all variety of gourds, tomatoes, radish, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, drumstick, celery, onion, chillies, corn and herbs such as parsley, mint, oregano, rosemary, curry leaves, and fruits such as pomegranate and mini fig. “It is exciting, we have organic terrace gardening groups (OTG) where we exchange saplings and seeds.”

Vani says there are several reasons to grow organic food. “The safest food you can eat is what you grow yourself. Community growing and exchange of ideas leads to passion, it is de-stressing while you have your green goals in place,” she says.

Vani also ensures her lifestyle is organic with locally grown, chemical-free food. “I support local farmers by being a member of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative. We get organically grown greens, vegetables and fruits directly from local farmers without the involvement of any middleman. After all, not everyone is able to grow everything.”

Planting tips

“I don’t believe there is anything like a green thumb. We have to have a fierce connect with nature,” says Vani. “Just as animals have an instinct to hunt, every human has an instinctive farmer in them to grow food from soil,” advises Vani.

As for what is required when growing plants in pots, Vani says: the medium should be one part red soil (for gaining minerals from mother earth), two parts compost (one vermi-compost and one wet kitchen compost) and one part coco peat (to hold moisture and keep the medium light).

Just like we have herbs and fruits, plants too need their natural nutrients like calcium, phosphorous and potassium that can be bought from any plant organic stores. “We add neem, pongamia and rock powder while planting too,” she says.

(This column features people who have exchanged their cubicles for the open fields)

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