The dual practices of waste segregation and compositing contribute to sustainable waste management. This reduces the dumping of waste at landfills and promotes environmental conservation.
Director of NGO Future Recyclers Foundation, and Phadtare Reliable Recyclers Pvt. Ltd, Rajeshwari Phadtare focuses on creating awareness on various waste management topics including food, plastic, and e-waste. The 2014 launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission motivated Rajeshwari to dive into the cleaning space.
Helping communities focus on recycling food waste is important as there are few players in this space. So far, three communities have successfully participated, resulting in the annual diversion of around 32 tonnes of food waste from the landfill. The best way for communities to come together to tackle food waste is to compost at the society itself—workshops and demo training help with segregating waste and composting. By the end of a month, the compost is ready and can be sold online.
Baseline and need-based assessments are conducted before planning a food compositing program for a society. The former assessment focusses on the type of service provided by the local municipal ward in the area. The latter assessment involves filling gaps and formulating a suitable plan. Roughly 100 kg of waste is generated by 100 flats in a society every day. The waste workers are educated through posters to facilitate the waste management plan. The public is aware of segregation but needs education on the different types of waste, and pictures serve as a useful tool to achieve awareness. Monetary benefits like rebates by BMC incentivize segregation and compositing.
The common public perception of garbage being dirty and untouchable has to change to facilitate waste segregation and composting. Strict regulations binding societies to understand the urgency of these practices are helpful. All in all, it is a time-consuming process but it needs to be done.