The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Compost made out of waste in park

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Sunday, Jun 07, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Compost made out of waste in park

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Corporation to introduce localised composting in multi-storied buildings, wedding halls

— Photo: Deepa H Ramakrishnan

USING WASTE: The compost yard at Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore, will provide manure for the park.

CHENNAI: Unlike in several other parks in the city, garden waste in the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore is put to good use. Thanks to a composting yard set up about four months ago, the waste is neither burnt nor disposed of with other rubbish here, in one of the most popular parks of Chennai.

“Earlier we used to either burn or throw out the leaves and trimmings for the Chennai Corporation staff to clear, but now we make compost from the garden waste,” said R. Shanti, a staff member at the park.

The women have been making compost in three pits at the rear of the park.

A total of 12 women employees clear the leaves and plastic waste. “Though there are eight bins placed at different points, several visitors leave wrappers of food stuff near the benches. Even children, who should be more environmentally conscious, do not bother to use the bins,” said A. Panchavarnam, one of the women involved in the upkeep of the park.

Previously a portion of the garden refuse used to be burnt inside the park. “We do not burn as much now. Only a small portion of the waste is burnt and even that keeps away the mosquitoes,” added K. Dhanalakshmi, another employee.

The women have been trained to make compost. “Cow dung is mixed with water and then sprinkled on a layer of leaves. They also press the leaves on a regular basis. After four months of composting now the three pits contain about two tonnes of compost,” explained B. Parandaman, solid waste composting expert with Exnora International.

Sundaram Finance, which maintains the park belonging to the Chennai Corporation, funds the project. “When the company spruced up the park before Chennai Sangamam last year, we suggested to it that the project be implemented. The company agreed, and constructed the composting pits,” said Mythili Sriram, a regular walker at the park and a resident of Mylapore.

M. Chidambaram, general secretary, Exnora International, said the compost would be used as manure in the park itself. “Earlier they used to buy compost once in six months, now they need not. If there is some excess amount, it would be used by Sundaram Finance in the other parks that it maintains,” he added.

Localised composting

A senior official of the Chennai Corporation said the civic body was trying to introduce localised composting in multi-storied buildings and kalyana mandapams where large amounts of garbage are produced.

“The only issue is that since most of the garbage would be wet in nature, it could cause stench. If the composting yard is located in an open space, even the stench would not be an issue.”

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