Natasha Golf View (NGV) is a 350-unit apartment complex in Domlur. It generates 150 kg of wet waste daily. Fifteen years ago, NGV began composting in a small way.
Last year, they visited Swachagraha Kalika Kendra (SGKK) through the Solid Waste Management Roundtable (SWMRT), an NGO, and decided to use three DIY mesh composters, each costing around Rs 10,000. “Now, our wet waste is converted into 500 kg of compost every 45 days, and we use it as manure in our garden,” says Bidyut Nath, a resident who handles NGV’s housekeeping and waste management portfolio. Like Bidyut, Odette Katrak, a resident of Purva Paradise in Domlur, is also a proud composting champion.
The kind of person who never sends out any wet waste, not even a banana skin! “Vegetable peels are composted at home and fruit peels made into organic bioenzyme cleaners. No wet waste has been sent out of my home in the last eight years,” she says, adding “Compost is my favourite gift to friends. The smell of fresh mountain earth in your own home is just magical.
” Two years ago, Odette unleashed a green revolution in her apartment complex. “Now, no wet waste goes out from our building,” she says. Composting crucial TOI reported this week that some apartments are grappling with excess compost.
But Anu Govind of SWMRT says excess compost is less of a concern. Sending out mixed waste or not composting, she says, is a huge problem for the environment. “Many apartments have proven that composting is doable.