Author: Nirmala Ravindran
Publication: India Today
Date: May 22, 2010
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/98269/OFFTRACK/Melting+pot.html
Introduction: A unique effort turns composting
kitchen waste into an eco-friendly & popular venture
Beautifully coloured terracotta pottery lines
the driveway to Daily Dump. These multi-coloured pots are not for upmarket
gardens but for creating lifestyle changes in our thinking about the environment.
An alumnus of the National Institute of Design,
Poonam Bir Kasturi and her team created these specially designed pots to compost
kitchen and organic waste that would otherwise fill up landfills. "We've
managed to keep off nearly 4,000 kg of organic waste from the landfills, but
that's less than a drop in the ocean, sighs Kasturi. Cities like Bangalore
are known to produce over 3,000 tonnes of waste everyday.
"Most households generate 500 gm to 2
kg organic waste everyday and it is this waste that we aim to keep out of
the landfills," says Kasturi. Her organisation, Daily Dump, has more
than 1,500 fans who have installed the pots in their homes and communities.
It has enlisted experts who guide people about
composting, which is a simple process-kitchen waste has to be covered either
by dry leaves or newspaper shreds everyday and this mixture turns into organic
manure in less than three months.
This manure can even generate income as Kasturi
buys it. "If you don't want the compost you've created, we at Daily Dump
will buy it from you. We have to start taking responsibility for our waste,"
she says. Compost is said to be the best form of manure as it is free from
chemicals that contaminate the soil.
The best part about Daily Dump is that it
is available to anyone who wants to replicate it. It has already spawned 10
clones in Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune and even as far
as Israel, Florida and Argentina.
It is also reaching out to schoolchildren
through fun-filled activities and illustrated activity books. Kasturi admits
that recycling and composting are still in a nascent stage in India. "It
has to become much simpler, almost as simple as switching on a light bulb.
That's what we are working on and that's when we'll be able to make a remarkable
difference," she says. Till then, it is the small daily steps that will
go a long way in helping save the planet.
