Those diligently practising waste segregation at home must be pleased as punch learning about this initiative. Urbaser Sumeet, the company handling waste management at a few zones of Greater Chennai Corporation, had a special drive this Ayudha Puja to collect the smashed pumpkins.
Every year, as a tradition during Dussehra, pumpkins are smashed outside homes, commercial establishments and in front of vehicles to ward off the evil eye. They are usually collected along with other wet waste but this time the agency provided sacks to its conservancy staff to collect them separately for composting.
According to some of the field staff, this time they received good cooperation from many resident-communities that kept the pumpkins in the corner of their road or called the conservancy team to have them cleared.
A huge number of commercial establishments are concentrated in zones IX, X and XII.
A few years ago, Greater Chennai Corporation had announced it would levy a fine on those leaving smashed pumpkins in the middle of the road as the practice triggered accidents.
Composting pumpkins
Samuel Jacob from the Department of Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology says the initiative is clearly what the doctor ordered. When left to decompose in a landfill, food waste produces methane gas, a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide, says Samuel.
In composting, the pumpkins are exposed to air and is more friendly to the soil. “We can compost pumpkins along with other wet waste but the efficiency would be reduced. Composting is a microbiological process, where they require suitable conditions like temperature, moisture and PH to convert efficiently,” he says.
A kilogramme of pumpkin oozes out at least 600 ml of water, so it slows down the process as water content increases moisture, says Samuel. Composting pumpkins can capture nutrients and water that can be put directly into parks and farms.
Published - October 08, 2022 05:34 pm IST
