A self-sustaining, eco-conscious community

Primary segregation by residents A simple 3-tier segregation: kitchen, dry & sanitary

waste.

No plastic bag is used for collecting kitchen waste

Sanitary waste to be wrapped in a paper unless there is

liquid content like dog poop, etc.

Dry waste to be poured directly into HK bin.

Kitchen waste composting

Up’Grade method by Reap Benefit using crates.

Kitchen waste is shredded and mixed with Up’Grade at 1:3 ratio.

High-quality compost is ready in 25-30 days.

Directly used for plants in our garden.

Shredded kitchen waste being weighed

Mix the shredded waste with Up’Grademix at 1:3 ratio

Put a layer of Up’Grade at the bottom to ensure no leachate loss happens.

Put the mixed waste in the middle layer and top with it another layer of Up’Grade& let it stay for 25-30 days.

Sieve it

Rich organic manure which looks like tea powder and smells like earth.

Use it directly for the garden.

Dry waste secondary segregation

Residents do primary segregation.

Housekeepers sort it out into 14-15 categories.

Water bottles, milk packet, other plastic waste (bottles, cans, containers, etc), metal (cans), broken & unbroken glass, partially & fully recyclable plastic newspapers, cardboard, tetrapacks, rubber, wood, coconut shells.

All this happens in 10-15 minutes by 14 HKs.

Sanitary/bio-medical waste Sanitary pads, diapers, nails, fallen hair, bio-medical

waste like syringes, needles, etc.

It is sent to Semb-Ramky in non-chlorinated plastic bags for incineration.

All the garden waste is turned into vermicompost.

GOING ORGANIC, STEP BY STEP

Garden used to heavy doses of pesticides & synthetic

fertilisers.

Attended organic gardening training, backed up by in-depth

research & meetings with experts.

Soil enrichment by adding 3-4 kinds of lab-produced

beneficial microbes mixed with our own organic manure.

Astounding results! Garden is much healthier and immune

to many kinds of infections.

Behavioural change & pride First, creation of positive environment around the whole

exercise.

Starts with resistance. And then, people take to it like duck to

water. WM is now just a matter of habit.

Residents are proud to be part of this first-ever self-sustaining

unique community—role models for the entire city.

Entire staff responds splendidly. There’s a palpable sense of

achievement in everyone.

Willingness to do more. Many people shunned chemical

pesticides, switched over to organic.

About me

Print media journalist since 1997—DH, TOI & NIE. HoD of

Acharya Institute of Journalism. Corporate Communications

Chief at BCIL.

Written extensively on environment and human rights

issues. Covered the 2009 North Karnataka floods.

All green initiatives extensively documented in my blog:

Endlessly Green (www.savitahiremath.com).