Are you unnecessarily contributing to global warming by not keeping your waste segregated ?

Solid wastes generate greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and small amounts of nitrous oxide. The global warming potential of methane is 25 times as much and nitrous oxide, 298 times as much as that of carbon dioxide.

Disposal of mixed waste including biodegradable matter (sometimes as high as 60 per cent) in dumpsites across India provides a perfect anaerobic environment for generation of methane and leachate. One tonne of biodegradable waste releases 0.84 tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions if left to decompose anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen when buried in deep pits).

The volume of waste sent to the landfill sites can be reduced if biodegradable waste is processed locally to produce compost. Compost helps store carbon back in the soil. Its usage reduces the need for chemical fertilisers which emit large quantities of nitrous oxide — both during production and in application— and thereby helps mitigate emissions. Compost also improves moisture retention in the soil. We are losing out on mitigation through composting because at most only two per cent of the municipal solid waste in India is composted.

Recycling of dry waste also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions because the energy required to manufacture a product using virgin materials is higher than when using recycled materials. While India has had a tradition of recycling paper, glass, metals, etc with the engagement of the informal sector, lack of segregation comes in the way of realising the full potential of recycling.This is particularly true for paper that soils easily when waste is mixed. As a result, only 27 per cent of paper in India is recycled, compared with 60 per cent in Japan and 73 per cent in Germany. Recycling requires up to 50 per cent less energy compared to production of paper based on wood pulp, and it also saves trees from being cut.

Making compost in 50 days from Day 1 of putting wet waste in the compost bin !

Khad (compost) from our compost box has been working well since about March 2018. No food waste is now given out to trash. Our earlier knowledgeable farmer housekeeper said it was as good as gobar ki khad (cow dung manure).

We are sold the composting bin by a local industrialist as part of his philanthropic work, for about 250-300 rs. a set, as I recall : 1. a re-used industrial bin which has been perforated on all the sides including top and bottom. 2. a bag of coco-peat which comes from the coconut tree. 3. a panja to turn the waste with.

Close up of the perforations in the compost bin..

Here's our kitchen waste, ready to be put into the composting bin. we leave out only narial ka khol (coconut shell), aam ki gitak (mango seed) etc. as they would take too long to compost. Those are bagged and put out to the waste collector when bag is full. but they are not mixed with dry waste such as paper, plastic, rubber which is easily sale-able and collected in a big bag until brimming full, then tied a knot on and put out. We dont use plastic bags as lining for kitchen waste. cut newspapers do the job perfectly well.

When starting out a new bin, one puts two fist-fulls of the coco-peat at bottom.

One empties the wet waste bin in the composting bin. one then washes and leaves the wet waste bin to dry. the second wet waste bin, already washed and put to dry the previous day, is put in the kitchen.

One then adds a fistful of coco-peat to the wet waste.

One mixes the coco-peat into the wet waste using the panja provided. one closes the bin cover. at our place, the bin is full in about 20 days. the wet waste in the  is then given a good mix up with the panja and left to the side somewhere where too much rain cant get into it. In about a month, it looks mature and black the way you saw in the first image.

we then normally put the compost in our plant pots and kyaris where it composts further. you can turn the soil a bit to hide it if you like.  We dont need to dry the compost as you saw in the first picture. we were drying it this time only to use it like the coco-peat bag - so one need not source coco peat again and again. one can just use the dried compost as a base layer and then to add a fist full everytime you put wet waste in the composting bin.

so at our rate of generation of wet wastes (two of us + 1-2 staff + guests over perhaps once a week), we need three compost bins which we have. but a family with less number of people to cater to, would still need two compost bins if they dont want to throw any wet wastes out, which we dont.