Waste venture
TO COMBAT the menace of increasing garbage, the residents of Vasant Kunj in New Delhi decided to approach a cop. That is exactly what Sukhbir Tanwar is, a former policeperson who turns garbage into manure. "I want Delhi to be green," says the former sub-inspector of the Central Reserve Police Force. To this purpose, Tanwar founded the Utthan Vahinee (UV), a group involved in collecting garbage and disposing it in the form of manure.
Collection of garbage and its proper disposal has been a nagging problem for residents of the city. But at least the residents of Sector A, pocket B and C of Vasant Kunj now inhale some fresh air, thanks to UV.
A registered body under the All India Harijan Utthan Sangh, UV trains people to collect, transport and dispose off garbage in an ecofriendly way. Initially a 10-member team led by Tanwar worked a whole week in Vasant Kunj for collecting waste from the houses and bylanes of the colony at a cost of Rs 30 per house per month.
The garbage was then transported in a special three-wheeler and unloaded in an unused land the Delhi Development Authority, for which Tanwar claims to have has taken permission.
Recyclable materials like polythene, plastics and other non-biodegradable wastes are segregated and sold to a factory. The biodegradable waste is kept in a pit with different layers of garbage, super phosphate (a fertiliser) or salt and four inches of soil. "It takes up to 90 days to form manure which is later distributed among people free of cost so that they are encouraged to grow plants," says Tanwar.
The idea of recycling garbage struck Tanwar when plague hit the country. "My aim is to make people aware of their surrounding environment, says Tanwar proudly. His venture has also provided work to several unemployed persons who are now earning Rs 1,500 per month.
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