Current State of Waste Management In India
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Composting offers an innovative way of managing this ever growing problem of waste management in Delhi
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Who We Are?
We are a professionally managed Company dedicated to fighting urban pollution by creating circular economies. Our solution combines sustainable waste management practices for Indian cities with improving agricultural productivity through use of compost.
We have set up a compost plant in the Okhla area of Delhi as a pioneering project focusing on processing of municipal solid waste into Compost. We ensure that the Compost produced by the plant is of high quality, meeting the norms defined by the Government and is safe for agricultural use. The Compost rejuvenates the soil that has been depleted of micro-nutrients and soil carbon through overuse of chemical fertilizers.
The plant was set up at a cost of ~US$5.6M and has a capacity to process 200 tons of Municipal Solid Waste per day. It costs US$0.6M annually to run the plant and provides jobs to ~40 full time employees who are mostly migrated rural labor dependent on part-time work or rag-picking.
The plant has the distinction of being the first municipal composting plant in the world to receive carbon credits.
So how does a Composting Plant work ?
PRE-SORTING
The process starts with pre-sorting where Municipal Solid Waste is fed into the hopper with the help of grab and passes through 100 mm trommel to separate (+) 100 mm and (-) 100 mm fractions. Manual segregation of large inorganic material and recyclables is also done by helpers on the conveyors itself before going to trommel.
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WINDROW COMPOSTING
(-) 100 mm fraction received at pre-sorting contains more than 70 % biodegradable waste. This material is mixed with microbial culture (in a ratio 1 ltr per MT of waste) and moisture of material is maintained to about 50% w/w after which windrow (a trapezoidal structure) is formed of dimension max. 3m base width, max. 2.5m height, max. 2.5m top width and length according to quantity of material.
Weekly turning of windrow is done to maintain the aerobic condition inside the heap. Regular monitoring of temperature and oxygen level is done to ensure optimal rate of decomposition. This process takes 28 days to complete.
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COARSE SEGREGATION
Now this material is fed to the coarse segregation section which has two consecutive trammels having screen sizes of 35 mm and 16 mm respectively. (-) 16 mm material received is called semi-finished material and is further cured for 15 days to ensure complete decomposition and stabilization of material
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FINE REFINEMENT
Semi-finished material is fed to the refinement section having screen size of 4 mm. During this process cured semi-finish material is first passed through 4 mm trammel. Then, (-) 4mm material is passed through a magnetic separator to ensure removal of any ferrous containing material, then through destoners and cyclone separators to ensure removal of stones, glass pieces, non-ferrous metals and silt. The final product/outcome is fine textured, blackish brown in color, earthy smelled and free flowing material and is called city compost.
The quality of finished material is tested in our own in-house laboratory and in third party laboratory as well on regular interval.
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PACKING
The finished material is packed manually in different bag sizes depending on orders![]()
FINAL PRODUCT
The packing is done in different sizes 1Kg, 2Kg, 5Kg, 10Kg and 50 Kg; Loose compost is also sold to the farmers or others.
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Rewards & Recognition
We've been picking up some recognition along the way:
- 1st Municipal Solid Waste compost plant in the world to be issued Carbon Credits
- 1st company in India to produce FCO compliant organic compost
- 1st company to get an Organic Certification for its compost
- Featured in C40 Sustainable 'Cities 100' 2015 publication
Partners who have helped us in our Journey
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What are people saying about us?
I was impressed by seeing this solid waste management project. I think it can really help the country to solve this problem.
Digamber Kamat
Ex-Chief Minister of Goa, India
What Wonderful Work! What I have seen is an important plan to reach a real development of our countries. I hope that you will now allow Burkina Faso to get benefit and share your rich experience about your project
Nana Benjamin
Director of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Pacific department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Burkina Faso
Congratulations – This is a great initiative & good project for environment protection
Ny Rado Rajalimanana
Oceanix international, Dubai, UAE
This is a first experience for me in my life. I am impressed by the business model - your concern for the environment is appreciated
Kamwanga Masankisi Senior Advisor to prime minister, Democratic Republic of Congo
Why do we need help?
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Where will your contribution go?
It takes $100 to process 7 tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) which produces 1 ton of Compost
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Mitigating Green House Gases
Processing 7 tons of MSW helps mitigate 3.5 tons of Green House Gases (GHG); every ton of GHG mitigates earns us 1 carbon credit
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Land Productivity
It takes 4 tons of compost across 1 hectare of land to increase its productivity by upwards of 20%. Also with increase usage of compost helps reduce water consumption
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Saving Land Space
1 full hectare of land is saved by processing 75,000 tons of Municipal Solid Waste that would otherwise find it's way into a landfill
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Employment Opportunities
We are able to generate employment opportunities for the lowest strata of society - Rag Pickers; 7,800 man hours of work gets generated to process 33,000 tons of Municipal Solid Waste
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Avoid Leachate
For every 7 tons of Municipal Solid Waste processed, 0.35 tons of Leachate are avoided
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Diseases Avoided
There are multiple waste related diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Asthama, Skin ailments that are avoided by processing it & turning it into compost
