After Eartha, we thought we were done with designing community composters. However, we hit a roadblock as transporting a few units of Eartha to places like New Delhi, Mumbai or even Pune, meant attracting a massive shipping fee which many interested buyers found inhibiting.
After all, who doesn’t like to hold fine-grained compost after weeks of anticipation? It’s the ultimate reward for any composter. Be it a rookie or seasoned one. The effect is therapeutic and the ritual/routine is a definite stress-buster!
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Forty years of organic farming means not just gaining expertise in this field. It means one has turned it into a profession of hope. Notwithstanding the rough-and-tumble of every waking hour. The endless stream of work. The never-ending learning curves. The back-breaking manual labour under the scorching sun and the searing cold. The constant pressure (if I can say that) of tending to your farm to prevent it from withering. You put yourself through all the rough and tumble, weather all the weather patterns gracefully. Because you believe in what you are doing.
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Ten billion cells per gram, loaded with saprophytic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes which can break down complex organic compounds, teeming with thermophiles that can spike up the temperature in your composter to 60-75 deg.C, and topped off with essential enzymes. This is a 12-strain microbial culture—geared to quicken the composting turnaround cycle and enrich the soil. It works a treat on tough-to-break-down meat, oils, spices, dairy leftovers, cellulose and lignin contents in your kitchen and garden rejects.
This is but just a sneak peek into the EXCELERATOR’s composition.
Here’s more….
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A new concept. A new design. Excellent execution and finish. The result is a classy EVA-V2. Hand-moulded, hand-finished and hand-delivered.
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The disturbing phenomenon of little girls reaching early menarche — some younger than 8 years — set me out on a search for organic milk in 2012-13. I didn’t want my little girl to grow up on growth hormones passed on to humans primarily from cows and buffaloes (and other meat products if you are a non-vegetarian). I didn’t want her to reside in a body ravaged by the hormonal upheavals that her tender age could hardly come to terms with.
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I have had the privilege of guiding scores of volunteers from across India in kitchen and garden waste composting over the decade. Never once did I witness the enthusiasm and the spirited follow-ups that CRPF Head Constable Krishna Murthy exhibited from start to finish. He belongs to the 82nd battalion, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and is posted in Bishamber Nagar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
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‘If you write what you yourself sincerely think and feel and are interested in, the chances are very high that you will interest other people as well.’ – Rachel Carson.
Several months rolled by in sweet anticipation of seeing my first book in its physical form. It’s finally here!
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So many Earth Day messages and almost all advising others to “save Mother Earth”!
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WE ARE SWMRT
We think waste.
We think holistic.
We think sustainable.
We think biodegradable.
We think solutions.
No designer or innovator should love one’s own creation to the extent that she or he becomes blind to its drawbacks. Hardly ever do we get to see a product that is complete in its first avatar itself. All products do need finetuning, don’t they? But that is possible only if the creator heeds customers’ feedback and gets back to the designing table. Eartha has emerged from that table, made multiple trips to the factory, moved through the seasons, and is now ready to weather the whims of all sorts of weather.
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By Pinky Chandran
The movie Contagion’s grim visuals of uncollected garbage lining deserted streets was one of the most profound images that stayed with me even after the movie ended. It continued to haunt me as I consumed media reports about increasing COVID19 positive cases. Continue reading
SWM byelaws are expected to be specific and pragmatic with an intention to implement laws or policies that enable the regulating authority to perform its duty without any ambiguity. However, the SWM byelaws drafted by BBMP recently are far from that.
Here are those seven reasons to never start composting…
1. It’s quite easy, but we’re all constantly looking for a bigger challenge so this will clearly not get remotely close to satisfying us. Continue reading
In what can be termed a highly disappointing turn of events, the views of SWM Joint Commissioner Sarfaraz Khan on composting have hit the green activists hard. Going by the buzz in various WhatsApp groups created to share tips and experiences on composting amongst green activists as well as enthusiasts from various walks of life across the city, the joint commissioner’s take on the same that appeared in today’s Bangalore Mirror has left them bewildered. Continue reading
If you have read all the CCMs documented in this blog, you will know that I have always picked out low-cost and sustainable methods including DIYs. But there are reasons for reviewing this completely machine-driven composting system. Continue reading
Stonesoup Founder Malini Parmar, a committed sustainable menstruation activist, shares her experience of turning her two daughters into ‘cupverts’ in this interesting article. Read on…
“Can my daughter use a cup?” How many times have I heard this question? The answer is highly nuanced and there is no straight “yes” or “no”. Before searching for an answer, I recommend that parents watch this TEDx talk first, “The Virginity Fraud”. Continue reading
Solid Waste Management Round Table’s SwachaGraha Compost Connect (SGCC) campaign was officially kicked off today with two farmers picking up a tractor-load of kitchen waste compost from Sobha Althea-Azalea, Yelahanka, Bengaluru. There are still many more heaps of compost to be loaded up.
Farmers located on the outskirts of the city meet members of Solid Waste Management Round Table to discuss Swachagraha Compost Connect campaign in Bengaluru on December 4.
Sometimes, things take longer than you think they will. And then, they happen faster than you thought they could.
SwachaGraha Compost Connect (SGCC) is one such dream project conceived by Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT), Bengaluru, that will work towards connecting urban compost producers with rural farming community with the sole intention of sending the precious organic waste coming out of our kitchens and gardens back to the soil in the form of compost. Continue reading
Endlessly Green is pleased to share these two case studies of SWM projects being executed by Mumbai-based Green Communities Foundation which is a waste management consultancy for societies and corporates. This blogpost lays bare how certain simple processes can help you execute segregation and composting in communities no matter which part of the country you live in. Continue reading
(L to R) Stonesoup co-founder Smita Kulkarni, SWM activist Shanthi Chowdhary and SWM volunteer Padma pose proudly with an Aaditi installed in a lane in HSR Layout. It is being managed by Padma and neighbours.
There’s something undeniable about a good product design. It fits in.
This observation goes well with Aaditi—a scalable aerobic composting system—designed, manufactured and marketed by Bengaluru-based startup company Stonesoup. It’s an entrepreneurial venture by SWM activists Malini Parmar and Smita Kulkarni. Continue reading
We all think household waste is relatively harmless and that rejects like plastic can be extracted out of the compost pile once the process is through. When I pored over some research papers, this is what emerged. To put it succinctly, what we throw enters the food chain, comes back and sits on our dining tables. Continue reading
Image from Unsplash
Endlessly Green is pleased to publish this informative article on composting and organic gardening written by Dunedin, New Zealand-based Cloe Matheson. Composting in cold seasons is something you might want to pay attention to. Continue reading
When I visited an apartment complex in Electronic City yesterday, this is how the story went…
The community wanted to have its own composting system and carved out some space for it in a corner. What ended up in that corner was this 24-hour fully automatic composter. To the residents who knew little about composting, this sounded like a fantastic idea. Why not when someone promises that the manure comes out in less than 24 hours and that this box can take in up to 150 kgs a day? Continue reading
There’s something inexplicable about this organic connection. It grows so deep and wide in such a short time that you wonder whether these connections were a tale of a time long past but just needed human encounters to happen in person to spring forth. Continue reading
This cost-effective and easy-to-prepare liquid fertiliser is one of those old-time golden farming solutions meant to offer multiple benefits to the soil and the plants and safeguard farmers’ interests. Noted soil activist SOIL Vasu has been propagating Thrishakti tonic among farmers and documenting its positive effect on various types of crops. Thanks to him, we are able to learn this method in detail and also its effects as demonstrated in the pictures shared by him. Continue reading
When Mr Kishor Rathi, director of Aurangabad-based Spinform Plastics, approached me to try out his Rotary Drum Composter some months ago, I was more keen on reviewing his large-scale composting products. But Mr Rathi persisted and couriered this compact, twin-coloured unit. The company manufactures various types of composters of different capacities for both home and community purposes. Here, I have reviewed only the Rotary Twin Drum composter and added a few details on the Single Drum composter with wheel. Continue reading
It’s all getting quite confusing to those who are looking for safer and better alternatives to traditional plastic bags to store and dispose of their waste. But are these so-called alternatives truly safe? Continue reading
Soil biologist and ecologist Dr Sultan Ahmed Ismail
If one were to sum up the entire body of work of this renowned soil biologist and ecologist in one word, it would be earthworms. Dr Sultan Ahmed Ismail’s lifework is centred on the techniques for recycling biodegradable waste into fertilizer using local varieties of earthworms and soil bioremediation. Dr Ismail, MD of Ecoscience Research Foundation, Chennai, has conducted extensive awareness sessions especially among schoolchildren to promote vermicomposting and environmental awareness. For him, the two are inseparable.
Here’s his statement—reproduced verbatim—on 24-hour or automatic composters being manufactured and sold all over India by various firms claiming that their machines produce ‘compost’ in just 24 hours or sometimes, 48-72 hours. Continue reading
ENDLESSLY GREEN 