Going gaga over garbage!

Now, don't let the title of my post make you think that I am in love with the piles of garbage that is now ubiquitous in the city of Chennai. Ever since the contractor Neel Metal Fanalca (fancy name, eh?) gave the Chennai Corporation a royal ditch, the city has been turned into a large garbage dump. Any visitor to the city cannot miss the mounds of dirty waste that remains uncleared on main roads and narrow streets. In many places the bins have vanished altogether and when they exist, they are merely overflowing with the stuff and they stand pleading helplessness.

I was inspired to compost by my friend, Ambika. She wrote about her experience in her blog and got me excited. I had been reading about composting for a while now did not want to embark on what I thought could be a daunting task. I was introduced to Daily Dump (www.dailydump.org) via Facebook and read about experiences of various folks who had been advised and supported by this organization. Their website is cool and I would urge you to visit it when you want some meaningful fun.

So off I went to collect the equipment (www.dailydump.org/products) for composting from Soumya. For Rs 1300, she gave me a 3 tier composter, a rake (to stir the garbage for aerating it), a bottle of accelerator (a powdery mix of bacteria and fungi that speeds up the composting process), a packet of cocopeat (which helps absorb moisture from the garbage) and a bottle of lemon spray to keep the fruit flies away and make the garbage smell better! I also got an instruction manual (the only one that I have read every word of!). BTW, though based in Bangalore, Daily Dump sells in several cities (www.dailydump.org/where_to_buy) including in Chile and you can even order your Kambha online.

My three tier Kambha!

Lemon spray and the accelerator

Seeing garbage in a new light!

We started dropping the vegetable and fruit waste generated in our kitchen a few days back. We air the garbage frequently, rake it every now and then, add newspaper bits when the moisture seems excessive and give it a dose of the accelerator every week. The design of the Kambha helps in the composting process. Meanwhile, I met Shardha Vamadevan, an architect and fellow parent at my son's school and now a composting evangelist, who has turned my "go-to person" for my composting woes and offers very practical tips to get the composting right. With her enthusiasm, I will not be surprised to see her at my doorstep one of these days, wanting to inspect my composter. While, I wait for my first harvest of compost.

I have started looking at my garbage in a new light. The other day, I saw orange peels ready for the Kambha and hit upon the idea of making marmalade! And, now when I see the piles of garbage strewn all over the city, I am convinced that I do not have to aggravate the situation. Try it, I am sure you will not regret it.