Municipal Solid Waste has become a significant environmental issue. Trash accumulation has been cited as a risk factor for infectious diseases especially for vulnerable populations including children and pregnant mothers. Poor/improper waste management pollutes air, water, and soil and thus continuous waste accumulation causes hazards for human health. While Solid Waste includes both wet and dry waste, handled by municipalities for final treatment and disposal, biodegradable organic waste constitutes 60-70% of the bulk waste generated. It is expected that the solid waste generated will increase by 17% in the next five years. The need of the hour is any alternative process that reduces the volume of waste by natural oxidation which can be employed under a controlled environment.
Team RICPHI has been working on an aerobic composting technology that converts organic waste into useful products by employing natural methods of composting which include total aerobic digestion in a controlled atmosphere with over 90% reduction in weight and volume without external heat application. This technology has been successfully piloted in various parts of India including in Ramaiah Medical College campus at Bangalore. The compost has been tested and validated by ICAR-IIHR (Hesarghatta) and Ramaiah Advanced Testing Lab. Dr Nayanjeet is an incubatee of BESST-HORT (ICAR-IIHR, Hesarghatta) under the mentorship of Dr. Selvakumar, Principal Scientist ICAR-IIHR, who provides technical guidance for ensuring the quality of the end products. Team RICPHI is working with R&D experts at Ramaiah Techno Centre to modify the processes towards development of a fully automatic waste digestor that will be valuable for all bulk generators of organic and biodegradable wastes.