The society has tied up with a waste management agency that offers solutions to issues that keep cropping up in its existing mechanism.
Waste segregation is becoming a household occupation in Gurgaon. While managements of residential societies are reiterating the contribution that individual households can make towards a waste-free environment by segregating their daily waste, Uniworld Gardens, in Sector 47, has gone a step further and tied up with a professional agency, Balancing Bits, for overseeing its composting plans.
With 500 flats in the society, the society has a compost plant spread over 1,000 sq m, which mainly employs aerobic composting methods.
The objective of employing an external agency is to ensure better accountability. “An agency can offer solutions to issues that crop up in our existing mechanism of waste composting and manure creation. Composting is a natural process and we have designed our operations in a manner that the natural essence is not tampered with. Moreover, the operations complement the urban ecosystem,” said Nirlipt Singh, president of the Uniworld Gardens RWA.
Rahul Khera, propreitor of Balancing Bits, says, “Organic kitchen waste [green matter] and dry leaves [brown matter] are shredded and mixed in a 1:2 or 1:3 proportion. These mixtures are placed in wire mesh bins for 30 days to allow for natural composting. These bins are so designed that the centre of the composting pile is always aerated.”
The temperature of the mixture is monitored using a compost thermometer. Its moisture, too, is assessed through the manual squeeze method. The findings ascertain the frequency at which the mixture needs to be turned.
Khera explains, “In general, the mixture for composting is turned every five days, or when the temperature reaches 65°C. After 30 days, the mixture is extracted from the bins and transferred to a different set of bins, where it remains for 10 days. After the 40-day cycle, the compost is ready for use.”
"With an average of 800 g of wet waste generated by an individual flat, the plant has been designed with a daily handling capacity of 400 kg. After establishing this compost plant, we have managed to stop the inflow of almost 9,000 kg of waste in the landfill sites. Moreover, we shall be harvesting around 800 kg of rich compost every month," said Siddharth Prakash, estate manager.
