Allow me to throw in one little suggestion: Rotting vegetable/plant and other organic waste is a major problem in South Asian cities and towns. More so during the rainy season.
It can be immensely mitigated and very easily too, IF every household that lives on the ground floor or have access to a small yard or a flat roof, COMPOSTS their vegetable/plant/organic waste. The compost can be recycled to enrich the soil and the foul smelling, scavenging animal attracting street dumps would be vastly reduced. In a densely populated urban environment the composting must be done in a contained environment, as opposed to piling up in a corner of the yard, which does not allow effective "digestion" of the material by aerobic bacteria, becomes an eyesore and provides shelter for rats and other vermin. How to do it? Simplest way is to build three containers, contiguous to each other, with bamboo 'jewra' lined with 'dhari', each about 30" wide X 30"long X 30" high. During the rainy season, they should be covered by a sheet of poly-film supported by a bamboo framework. Why three? Because once the first one gets full and the contents are partially decomposed, it can be moved into the second one with a pitch-fork. The turning of the contents will further accelerate decomposition in the second chamber. When it gets full the "ripe" compost can then be forked over into the third for storage and use in the garden. Two chambers will suffice if the household does not generate too much waste. Those who do not have a yard or only a small one or have a flat roof, can use a metal or plastic drum, about 2' in diameter X 3' long, with a closable window ( by cutting out a 12" X 12" section on the side, then attaching it back with hinges and lips and a latch. These can be mass produced by a water-tank manufacturer, or by an individual equipped to perform simple welding/soldering tasks. The drum can be placed on a pair of X-type supports, and rotated once a week or so to accelerate decomposition. There should be a few holes opposite the window and on the ends to allow air to enter and fluids to drain out. Good air movement is essential to prevent ROTTING. Waterlogging also will cause rotting and create bad odors. Sophisticated drum compost bins have a handle with a simple gear mechanism to facilitate easy hand cranking for rotating. BTW, the composting process is NOT the same as ROTTING. Composting is done by aerobic bacteria by digesting the organic material. Rotting is the opposite of that--prevention of bacterial digestion due to absence of air in tightly packed dumps and steeped in too much moisture or water. When the material is lying around too loosely in a corner dump, the heat generated by bacterial decomposition cannot be utilized effectively to accelerate the process. And too dry an environment in the loosely packed dump will not even start the bacterial digestion process. I can provide designs for both if someone wants to take up the project. We have been composting all our kitchen and yard waste for over thirty years. CAUTION: Do NOT place meat waste or pet excreta in your compost bins. Fish waste is fine. Cow dung is GREAT additive. At 6:48 AM +0000 5/14/08, Nava Thakuria wrote: >Journalists to study garbage management > >GUWAHATI, May 11: Guwahati Press Club has decided to study the >problem of garbage management in Northeast with special reference to >biomedical wastes. This was stated in a press release. >This is a known fact that Guwahati is the crowded city with a >population of nearly 20,00,000 and produces heaps of garbages >everyday. More over, the city has emerged as a health care hub for >the state as well as for the seven neighbouring states serving more >than three crore people. >One can easily imagine the quantity of hazardous biomedical wastes >that the hospitals and pathological labs produce in a single day. >But unfortunately enough, the city does not have an adequate modern >system to deal with the situation. >Though the Ministry of Environment and Forests (GoI) issued >Municipal Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules in 2000, the >present state of garbage management system in Guwahati is not able >to cope-up with the need of the time. >The study will cover all aspects of garbage management in the city. >A group of journalists will take the initiative and finally compile >a comprehensive report in English on the issue. Interested >journalists (must be Guwahati based), are requested to contact the >secretary, Guwahati Press Club >(e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) latest by May 31. > > > >_______________________________________________ >assam mailing list >assam@assamnet.org >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
