Guerrilla-Composting ……My Way

God save our city!!! Reeling under piles of garbage for some time. The problem has escalated so much that people are leaving hi-fi corporate jobs to form NGO’s to solve waste segregation. Cloud computing is shaking hands with garbage management. Still no solution, reduction or even a ray of hope. One good thing happened that it has given rise to a new industry—“The Composting Industry”. Simple composting is now raging like wildfire involving many jobs. Too hyped as the waste which should go to landfill stays in our homes and the one which destroys land goes to landfill. Hyping has made it a non-green process which it was not supposed to be. Fancy composting units, smart bins made of plastic, imported materials for composting all make it a process having enough carbon foot-print to offset the goodness of composting. Adding to that apartment living is not compost friendly. People hardly have enough space to keep a few pots, what will they do with the compost. Too much trouble for working people already under loads of work stress.

What I am going to write here is going to shock many of you and I may get lot of bricks too but I find this the easiest solution. Have you heard of “Guerrilla Composting” ?[1] Web search will tell you that stealing someone else’s wet waste to make it a compost for your use is called Guerrilla Composting by some groups. Here is an  alternate meaning….give your wet waste to fertilize someone else’s land….without their knowledge of course. You will be absolved of all the responsibility of throwing wet waste separately, washing the bin .etc. Money saved from buying composting units, trouble of using multiple bins, cleaning and many other hassles.

How to do it? Find out an empty plot or a piece of land in neighbourhood which usually is the shitting ground of the neighbourhood slum and throw waste like fruit veg peels, waste food, bones in it. This will also help feed stray animals like dogs, crows and cows (for the religious minded). Be careful not to throw any non-degradable stuff. Automatic segregation and only waste going out of your house is dry and recyclable.

However some important points to note

Always throw biodegradable waste like veg/fruit peels, leftover food.

Don’t wrap it in any plastic or non-degradable packing. Use paper or cotton/jute cloth if needed. But then animals cant consume it.

Throw it at a time when animals graze to optimize the consumption.

Lastly and most importantly don’t throw stuff in the morning. May fall on someone’s head while defecating. Happened with me last month.

I have found my natural composting bin and throw my kitchen waste there (photo). I see sheep, goats and some cows eating the veg peels happily. Squirrels on the African tulip tree enjoy the pieces of dry stale bread and crows enjoy my rice. I hate wasting food so I don’t get much waste but whatever little I get I throw it there and make it a point to throw fruit seeds .Who knows one day I will get a mango tree next to my apartment boundary wall. Had a cherry tree in the place which was cut down by local slum dwellers. Hopefully not this time.

You will be doing favour to the owner of the land making it fertile. When he builds house there he will have a sprawling garden. I am attaching snaps of happy birds and animals of my big composting bin. Happy composting!

[1]http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/composting-guerrilla-style