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I want to start a small initiative to reduce waste in my locality. I would like to set up a small scale organisation to segregate the waste and send it to various recycling/waste management plants. Please guide.
— Neha Sood
Via Email
The unorganised sector of rag pickers is operating in full swing and it directly takes the waste to the recycling plants. To identify the recyclers in your area, you could have a chat with your local kabari wallah and jhaadu wallah to begin with. But to know what you can do with the waste at a small scale, read on:
Make handmade paper
This is also one of the costliest paper available in the market, and considering the fact it is made only from waste, it will fetch you good profit. All you need is a wooden rectangular double frame, which has sieve (mesh) of about 1 mm. You can buy the sieve separately and get this frame made from a carpenter in a way so that the two frames are only attached at the back and can open up whenever needed.
You will have to:
- Soak all the paper in water in a tub and make pulp out of it. For a smoother dissolving you may use a mixer/ grinder or hand.
- Take a thick plastic sheet on which you can spread the pulp. When the pulp is applied all over the tray, just leave the frame on your rooftop for sun drying.
Within few hours or a day, you can open your frame, and gradually detach the paper from plastic sheet. Your handmade paper is ready. You can add dried flower petals, grass or color to the pulp to create a designer variety.
Make Compost
All the wet waste from the kitchen, and the leaves that are burnt in your colony can now be used to produce manure.
- Select a patch of land that gets both sunlight and partial shade during the day. Mark a square on the ground that is at least 3-by-3 feet in size.
- Dig out the marked area to a depth of at least 6 inches. To enhance capacity, you may increase the depth. Pile the removed soil near an edge of the pit to add it back into the pit later. Remove and discard stones, roots and debris from both the pit and the stacked soil.
- Deposit household scraps, garden clippings, coffee grounds and other fresh organic material into the centre of the compost pit. Add dried leaves, chopped twigs, brown organic material and small amounts of shredded brown cardboard.
- Turn the contents of the pit with a pitchfork every two weeks. Heap the material of the centre of the pit each time. Add a shovel full of the set-aside soil into to the compost each time you turn it. Poke holes in the stack with a long sharp stick, providing places for air to reach the inner layers.
- Maintain a state of dampness by sprinkling water on the pit contents if they become dry in the summer months. Cover the pit with black plastic during rainy spells to keep from getting soggy. Hold down the edges of the black plastic with heavy bricks or stones.
Now you just have to let nature work its wonders. After 15 days, you will note, that the compost is thoroughly decomposed and crumbly. This is now a mix of organic manure, ready to be marketed.
Is there any faster way or easier way to fix the ozone layer?
— Umang
Via Email
Like every other environmental crisis that we face today, this too doesn’t have any quick fix solution. After all these problems have grown over many years, and they cannot be just wished away in days. Ozone destruction is catalysed by chlorine and bromine atoms which are released most commonly from our refrigerators, air conditioners and deodorants as chloro fluoro carbons (CFCs). The only solution that remains with us is to stop emitting CFCs. The Montreal Protocol was signed by governments of different countries in 1987 to stop future use of gases that deplete the ozone layer. Besides, Ozone cannot be manufactured as it requires intense heat - that can be generated only by the Sun.
Panditji, we’ve a plot adjacent to our house, in which we usually dispose or simply throw the expired pesticides and veterinary medicines. Now i want to grow vegetables in that plot, how can Imake sure that the soil of that plot is not contaminated with harmful substances?
— Kamal Rao
Via Email
Scoop some soil into a container. Then, add half-cup of vinegar. If the soil bubbles or fizzes, it’s alkaline.
If there is no reaction, scoop a fresh soil sample into a second container. Add half-cup of water and mix. Then, add half-cup of baking soda. If the soil bubbles or fizzes the soil is highly acidic.
Amend your soil with wood ash or lime, if it’s acidic. ash is rich in potassium and calcium carbonate. Amend your soil with sulfur or pine needles. If it is alkaline. Putting used tea/coffee powder also helps.
I am an architect and constructing my own “GREEN” residence. I have planned that there will not be any artificial light during daytime. Also intend to use Photo Voltaic home lighting system which will cost Rs. 75,000 approximately. For me this is too expensive, and until Govt. comes forward to bring it’s cost down, it is not possible to install this system. Can you show me any solution?
— Arvind
Via Email
Arvind, you did not mention your location, but I am guessing that you are from Maharashtra, because of your name. So I am telling you that since 2007, Maharashtra, in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), has launched a loan scheme to finance solar lighting systems for homes in its eight districts. The Mahadeep Loan Scheme is targeted at homes in the semi-urban and urban sectors. The loans will be given at an interest rate of 12.5 per cent per annum repayable over five years. It was to be implemented in Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Nashk, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara and Sindhudurg districts. Seven vendors, including Shell Solar and Kotak Urja have been identified for different home lighting systems at an average cost of Rs 15,000.
UNEP launched a similar programme in Gujarat earlier this month, in association with Seva and already has tie-ups with Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank in Karnataka for the last three years, where they have sold 18,000 systems.
Please find out about this scheme and let us know if it is working on the ground at all or not.
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Dear Pandit ji,
Congratulations for explaining as to why Gobar Times had been introduced. In this regard, I would like to advise that long before the launch of Gobar Times, there was a cover story in Down To Earth on ‘Cow Dung or Diamond’ and your founder late Padam Bhushan Anil Agarwal, had made a plea for Cabinet Mantri for Gobar.
On April 8 and 9, 1998, we had organized a two- day workshop on uses of Cow Dung and Urine. The key note address was given by none else but Mr. Anil Agarwal and after that the Gobar Times was started.
So to some extent, our organization is also acontributor to the supplement which is becoming popular day by day.
Laxmi Narain Modi
Managing Trustee
Bhartiya Cattle Resource Development Foundation
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