Most apartments in Bengaluru are penny-wise & pound-foolish. Here’s why.

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A huge 1,400-flat Brigade apartment in JP Nagar generates over 1,000 kgs of food waste per day. To dispose of this load of precious waste illegally, they pay anything between Rs 75,000-Rs 1,00,000 to a private contractor. Sometime ago, a vendor who specialises in biogas systems approached them offering a happily-ever-after solution. It called for a one-time investment of Rs 1,500 per flat which ran into Rs 21 lakh. The biogas unit, fitted with a genset, was capable of generating a good deal of power which would help them recover their investment in less than four years. There were other added benefits, too. But the community rejected the solution outright saying, “it’s too costly!” Continue reading →

Does your community produce excess compost? Join SwachaGraha Compost Connect campaign

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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 →

SWM in apartments: Mumbai’s Green Communities Foundation keeps it simple and efficient

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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 →

Community composting method-17: Be it apartments, parks or lanes, Aaditi from Stonesoup fits right in

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(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 →

Mixed waste ‘compost’ & heavy metal contamination: Let’s stop living in a fool’s paradise

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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 →

Yet another 24-hour piece of junk. Yet another distraught customer.

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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 →