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Whether you're a single person or a large city, make sure your waste is not wasted.

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Composting waste at home

Have you ever thought about how much household waste we generate in a day? According to this report by Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, individual middle-class residents in big cities generate nearly 0.8 kg of waste per day. And nearly 60% or more of the daily waste generated in households is made up of organic matter.

Composting is the best way to handle your food waste; it needn't ever leave your apartment or head to the landfills. You can convert your daily dustbin contents into rich, organic manure and grow flowers, vegetables or plants with it.

POT COMPOSTING

If you are a beginner to composting, start off with the most popular method: aerobic composting in a pot. Aerobic composting is done above-ground with the help of microorganisms that consume and decompose organic waste matter in an aerated environment. You can make the composting container yourself or buy one. Usually, three pots are used, stacked one on top of the other.

Here are the steps involved:

  • Segregate your household waste into dry and wet—right in your kitchen. Fruit peels, teabags and leftovers of food are wet waste, while paper, plastic and packaging are dry waste.
  • Put the wet and dry waste in two different containers in the kitchen.
  • Once the wet waste container is full, put its contents into the first compost pot.
  • Add dried leaves of the same quantity as the waste.
  • Add semi-composted material, buttermilk or cow dung to start off the decomposition process.
  • Turn the pile around every other day.
  • The pile has to be kept at the right level of dampness. If it is too wet, add dried leaves and stir. If it is too dry, add water and stir.
  • Once full, leave the pot open for 30–45 days for the composting to happen.
  • Once the container is full, move the semi-composted matter into a larger container or bin.
  • After two months, the waste will turn into rich compost that can be used or sold as manure.

Note: Do not add cooked food, meat and dairy products, at least in the beginning, to avoid a stench.

Like any other initiative, it will take you a couple of months to familiarize yourself with the composting process. Initial problems like too many maggots, soldier flies, fruit flies or the stench might put you off, but stay on course and complete at least two cycles of composting. Not only will you be reducing the waste generated in your city, but also contributing to an environment-conscious society.

VERMICOMPOSTING

In vermicomposting, earthworms (a farmer's best friend) or composting worms are the main players. These worms need air, water, food and warmth to live and breed. By adding these worms to containers full of organic waste matter, you can produce vermicompost, which is nothing but the worms' droppings created after consuming the organic waste.

Start vermicomposting only if you have already been composting regularly, not if you are experimenting for the first time.

Here are the steps involved:

  • To start with, get a large plastic tub.
  • Gather the following: shredded newspaper, shredded cardboard, coconut fibres and dry cow dung cakes.
  • Soak these in water, squeeze out the excess water (like you would with a sponge) and place these materials at the bottom of the worm bin.
  • Buy some earthworms with the soil they live in. (You can get this from a nursery.)
  • Add half-done compost to this as it has enough microorganisms to get the worms started.
  • Add kitchen waste to this once in two or three days, not every day. (Don't use the worm bin as a site for dumping your daily kitchen waste.)
  • Don't feed it meat, dairy or fatty food.
  • Limit the use of citrus fruits and peel in your vermicompost bin.
  • Don't use anything acidic, just stick to fruit and vegetable peel, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags and tea leaves.

Visit http://thealternative.in/environment/composting-with-vani-murthy-vermi-composting-with-earthworms/ for more information.

THE BOKASHI METHOD

'Bokashi' means 'fermented organic matter' in Japanese. The Bokashi composting method uses a select group of microorganisms to anaerobically ferment organic waste. It is a two-stage process:

Stage 1
You will need a large airtight drum for fermentation. The process does not break down the contents as there is no oxygen.

Stage 2
Decomposition that takes place when the fermented material is added to soil or compost. The fermentation also conditions food waste so that it will break down more rapidly at the decomposition stage.

Here are the steps involved:

  • Add daily kitchen waste to this drum. Cooked food, meat and dairy products—everything goes in.
  • Don't panic if you see maggots the next day around the rim. This is expected.
  • Add the Bokashi powder. To learn how to make Bokashi powder, visit this site.
  • Ensure that the drum has a tap which can drain a small amount of the liquid generated from time to time. This liquid will smell like molasses, bran and vinegar.
  • By around the 17th day, some white fungus will have grown in the drum; this shows fermentation. The white mould is a beneficial fungus which helps suppress pathogens. If you have white mould, it means that your fermentation is going well.
  • Collect kitchen waste in the Bokashi drum for a month and then let it sit for 18 days.
  • Mix some of the drum's contents with semi-done compost and put this mixture in a tub.
  • Dig a trench and then put the fermenting wet waste in it. Cover it up.
  • After three weeks you have beautiful black compost.

* Some material for this piece has been sourced from The Alternative, a Bangalore-based media platform focused on sustainable living and social impact.

  
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