When communities create black gold with kitchen waste, the SwachaGraha Compost Connect (SGCC) team helps them by locating farmers in and around the city of Bengaluru. SGCC is a campaign conceptualised and executed by SWMRT that strives to send the biomass back to where it belongs: the earth.
Currently, we help 50 producers in Bengaluru sell their compost to farmers and urban terrace gardeners. If you would like to part of the network, visit: https://www.swachagraha.in/sgcc.
Leading the Zero-Waste Collective in December 2023, SWMRT had intervened in public spaces and events to streamline waste management. This led to the launch of ‘Creating Sustainable Temples’—a community-led approach towards establishing zero-waste temples.
A pilot project at Banashankari Temple adopted a systematic approach that inspired behavioural change among devotees and vendors. Ever since, by streamlining waste management systems and addressing knowledge and skill gaps, the temple has been taking steps towards sustainability. Now, the temple composts 50-100 kgs of waste, sends surplus salt to coconut farms, diverts plastic waste to a DWCC, and reuses idol offerings like kumkum.
The campaign was recently picked up by The Times of India detailing how repurposing of salt from Banashankari temple was being used as
manure in coconut farms.
The temple receives an average of 650 kg of salt per day which usually ends up in landfills. Through the project, the salt from Banashankari temple is now being collected, segregated, packed in gunny bags and sent to coconut plantations in Ragigudda Sri Prasanna Anjaneya Temple, Jayanagar, and Swabhiman Park, HSR Layout. Through experiments, the health of the coconut trees is being assessed by using salt to improve soil alkalinity and nutrient uptake.
