How To Make Your Garbage Green In Two Easy Steps
WHEN we talk about our commitment to a socially responsible world, here’s a product that surely cannot be ignored. Tell me, what could be better than turning your kitchen waste into fodder for your plants that you so fondly grow in your garden or your terrace? While surfing Facebook, I stumbled upon this advertisement of a waste management instrument, aptly named the ‘Smartbin’. I couldn’t contain myself from writing about it for our readers.
The Smartbin works in two simple stages:
1. The food waste is collected and pickled for two weeks in sealed conditions, with the help of beneficial composting microbes supplied by GreenTech Life. The sealed lid prevents flies, insects and rodents from accessing the fermenting waste, while the microbes ensure the kitchen remains free of any foul smell.
2. The pickled food waste is mixed with soil, or compost generated in the previous cycle. This mixture is cured in a drum for three weeks, before it turns into high quality compost. Since the first stage happens inside the kitchen, this offers an ideal solution for not just independent houses, but also for apartments where space is often a constraint.
Greentech Life was founded in 2009 by Arijit Mitra, it offers the Smartbin and Modular, Self Watering, Organic Terrace Gardens. Now just think of the environmental benefits of the products by Greentech Life. You utilize your waste to the optimum, you save yourself from foul smell and in turn, you get to eat and grow organic foods.
Flossie Jayakaran, a first time user, vouches, “I start composting about 10 days ago, and today I collected some smart brew, which of course, I diluted and poured around the plants. What amazes me is the lack of foul smell within the smart bin.”
Ex-Air Hostess, Mrunalini Gole, a user of the Smartbin for year and half, can’t stop raving about her sustainable product. She says, “Convenient and amazing! My plants have never been happier. Just imagine the pleasure of your broccoli thriving in your house and feeding it on the compost you just made! That too with all the garbage you would just have chucked and forgotten about. I couldn’t have asked for more.” Other testimonials are as effusive.
The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) has estimated that waste generation in India could be as much as 1.3 pounds per person per day. That figure is relatively low, compared to the 4.6 pounds of waste generated per person per day in the U.S. However, as of July 2009, the U.S. population was close to 307 million, whereas India’s population was nearly four times greater, at 1.2 billion. These statistics mean that India could be generating as much as 27 million more tons of waste than the U.S. per year, although it has only one-third the land space when it comes to finding suitable locations for final disposal.
We have harped enough about the need for cognitive waste management. Now is the time for action.
Throughout most of history, the amount of waste generated by humans was relatively moderate due to low population density and minimal exploitation of natural resources. Common waste produced during pre-modern times was mainly ashes and human biodegradable waste, and these were released back into the ground locally, with minimum environmental impact. Following the onset of industrialization, and the sustained urban growth of large population centres like India, the buildup of waste in cities caused a rapid deterioration in levels of sanitation and the general quality of urban life. The streets became choked with filth due to the lack of waste clearance management.
In short, we’ve survived the accumulated garbage of past generations, but not any more! We have to find a way to responsibly manage the country’s ever-increasing amount of trash. Using products like Smartbin for your bio-waste, could be one such option.
