Composters at gated community get ‘assistants’

A gated community on the IT corridor invests in two shredders — which are essentially farm implements — to improve the composting process on its premises

A few months ago, three composters at a gated community on the IT Corridor were harshly overshadowed by a dark side of human nature: faulting others for one’s own failing. There were murmurs about an occasional icky smell, felt by flats within whiffing range of the composters. Studying the issue, the waste management team at the community identified the door the blame had to be laid at. It was in fact not just one door, but all doors, theirs included. The entire community was declared at fault in the matter — for thoughtlessly handing over organic waste. And together, they have invested in a solution.

“In your house, there is a cauliflower, half of which has gone bad and that part goes unthinkingly into the green bin. Chunky pieces of organic waste take time to compost,” says Rakesh Ohri, president, The Central Park South (TPCS) residents’ association.

Realising that awareness exercises in this matter would be unreliable ground, the TCPS team rejected that option. Figuring out what to do with that “chunky cauliflower” led them to Appaswamy Springs, a gated community in Thiruvanmiyur, which had cut theirs down to size, without rapping its residents on the knuckles for it.