The monsoons should arrive soon. Clinton Vaz suggests a few pre-monsoon
tips to keeping your compost and recycling going through this monsoon season
Yesterday morning, as I woke up and stepped out to get the papers, I
felt some tiny drops on me, and then the smell of wet earth. The
unmistakable smell of the arriving monsoon. Now this is a typical Goa
smell that one can smell only at the start of the monsoons, especially
in the villages.
At this time of the year, everybody is busy preparing for the monsoons,
a season of rainfall that could last for the next 4-5 months. Heavy
rainfall can be paralyzing. The heaviest showers could be worse than
standing under a shower, as the size and speed of the rain drops are
sure enough to wet you to the bone in 10 second’s flat! But life in Goa
still goes on, people get to work on time (mostly), houses leak a
little, people still visit friends and the only change around is the
raincoats and umbrellas that everybody carries.
But right now, in May, everybody’s busy getting roofs waterproofed, clay
tiles replaced, and roofs ‘stitched’. Clothes lines are being restrung
within homes and car wipers being fixed for the arriving rain.
Similarly, you need to get a few things done for your composting and
recycling too.
Harvest your Compost
Its harvest season folks! Try and harvest all the compost that you can
over the next weekend! Drying compost in the monsoon is tricky, so dig
deep and extract all the ready compost that you can from your composting
unit. This freshly removed compost needs to be sun-dried before it’s
sieved, so use the last few sunny days for that. Compost that’s sieved
may be kept out in the rain, but a lot of its nutrient value would get
leached away with the rain. Therefore, placing a plastic sheet over and
under the pile would be a good idea. However, packing up your compost in
sacks and storing it in a shaded area would be a better idea if you have
the space.
Preparing for Monsoon Composting!
Composting in the monsoon is slightly different, especially in the peak
of the monsoons, because of the high moisture content in the air. Too
much moisture is not desirable as it extends the time required for
composting to occur. Make sure that your compost bin has a waterproof
roof above it. If that’s not possible, you could place a lid over the
bin to reduce the direct impact of rain. You might also need side walls
installed if your composting station exists in an open area. Look out
for the direction in witch the rain comes from and place your anti-rain
defenses in that way. The pre-monsoon showers would test your defenses,
and you could make minor adjustments before the actual monsoons arrive.
Within the actual compost bin, you need a constant supply of dry
absorbent material like leaves, or saw-dust to absorb the liquid matter
from kitchen wet waste. This also helps balance the CN ratio. Since it
is difficult to find dry leaves in the monsoons, you could stockpile dry
leaves for the monsoons (for at least a couple of months) in a dry
storage area. Pack your leaves in a gunny sack and then use it for the
monsoons. In case you can’t do this, replace your leaves with bits of
waste paper as your dry absorbent material during the monsoon season.
Make sure that your compost bin has good drainage. Excess moisture has
to be drained away, so test this by pouring a bucketful of water and
make the necessary adjustments. If your bin has a lower leachate
collection unit, then make sure that the openings are not blocked and
that you remember to empty the excess liquid at more frequent intervals
once the rains arrive.
Recycling & the Monsoons
Make sure that your current stockpile of recycled materials is emptied
at the recyclers. Unless you have waterproof containers, make sure that
you move all your recycling bins to a dry area. Recyclable waste
categories like paper, and cardboard tend to absorb moisture and gain
weight. This means that these items simply weigh more than their actual
weight. To compensate for this extra weight, recyclers often offer lower
than usual rates for these items in the monsoons.
Plastic, Metal and Glass containers, and rubber tyres that are kept
facing upwards collect rainwater and then encourage mosquitoes to breed,
thereby increasing the chances for spread of vector borne diseases. To
avoid this from happening, it would be a good idea to walk around your
house, and around your garden and collect all your recyclable waste and
place it in one area and make sure it gets recycled before the rains arrive.
Once you have done all this, you can grab and armchair, and put up your
feet and enjoy the rain… or the afternoon breeze with a mancurad mango,
until the rains arrive!
Clinton Vaz, 28 lives in Benaulim and works on environment and wildlife
issues in Goa. He can be contacted at [email protected] or +91
9890936828 This article appeared on Gomantak Times, 22nd May 2009
