Composting

Last time around we told you why composting is an art – and how powerful it is. But power comes with responsibility right? All of us agree that in theory and in principle composting makes the most sense. However, the situation may be more difficult and complex to address on ground.

Approximately 55-60% of household waste is wet waste. Let’s take an example of a housing society with 100 flats. Given 80% occupancy status, with an average of 3 people in a flat, we are looking to manage 100 kgs of wet waste in a day. Let’s assume that this society is built before 2016 i.e. did not get any support from builder in terms of compost pits or any other machinery. How can we ensure that no wet waste goes out?

Space is a very critical component in any community living. Here, it becomes imperative to understand what kind of spaces we can incorporate composting without affecting community living. Common challenges that societies face are: odour issues, rodent issues and also – consistent composting of wet waste everyday. The most pressing issue then becomes about ensuring that no resident compromises on their standard of living with a composting pit right below their flat.

In Shreeji Paradise, Aundh – this society had zero space available. But after a long brainstorming with members, the space between compound wall and parking was identified! Till date, not one person who parks their vehicle has complained of any odour. Another society – Yuthika – looked at space close to their parking. Look how this community has transformed their parking space. We’ve been running this project for over 3 years. It’s this kind of simple, operator friendly systems that make a huge world of difference.

Working with many of these communities – we are also mindful that sometimes there may be zero space available on ground. But in such cases – we’re very happy to take the project straight up – on the terrace of course! Here the residents of Rose County liked the idea of a fabricated jali – and that worked very well.

The heart of any community project is community participation – without that any kind of work really does not take off. Let’s look at two key examples. Mont Vert Tropez as a society had recently shifted to piped gas. They looked at their gas room with a different lens. Here, we helped them to transform this space – and convert that into a composting room. Simple transformation of a space that already existed – that is our bottom line when we want to urge communities to transform their spaces.

Like any social enterprise, we are the happiest, when we see communities valuing composting spaces. Kunal Icon, a 29 building society had been in discussions with us right from the stage of conceptualising composting in their backyard. When the turn came to identify spaces, we just relooked at their garbage chute rooms. Within no time, this space became the hub of wet waste management. We know how much the community values this space. One day, our supervisor sent us the photo of how the compost room looked and we were pleasantly surprised to see the transformation.

Composting is possible in the smallest of spaces – so long as the intention and the will power is there. For every resident who questions on whether composting is a smelly process – we let our work do the talking to prove otherwise. If you’re interested to know more – drop us an email on info@proearth.in or call us on 8007 01 14 14