As an extension of the efforts
undertaken by Ministry of Urban Development to encourage processing of solid
waste, Venkaiah Naidu today spoke to Amitabh Bachchan and thanked him for agreeing to be the
face of the ministry's new communication campaign encouraging citizens to use
City Compost produced from municipal solid waste.
Bachchan
will be the face of City Compost produced from municipal solid waste
under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
India
currently produces over 1.54 lakh metric tonne of solid waste per day, 50
percent of which comprises of organic waste that can be converted into compost
and gas; 30 percent is inorganic waste, which can be converted into energy.
India has the potential to produce 54 lakh metric tonne of compost per annum
from waste.
Compost,
produced organically from waste, are free of harmful chemicals and serve to
provide carbon and primary / secondary nutrients to soil and increases its
water retention capacity. Composting imitates nature's way of rebuilding soil
by encouraging the decomposition of organic substances. Besides being the
cheapest method of disposing organic wastes, composting is eco-friendly, since
it prevents production of harmful greenhouse gases (especially methane) and
toxic material that pollutes groundwater apart from polluting the environment.
Despite
the clear advantages of city compost, the current production of city compost
from waste, lags far behind its potential. Hence, a focused communication
campaign is being launched with Bachchan as its face to spread awareness and
push up the production of city compost leading to increased quantum of waste
processing and disposal and lessening the burden on existing dumpsites.
Bachchan
is expected to appeal to all citizens, nursery owners and horticulture agencies
to pledge to use only city compost in their gardens, farm houses and public
gardens. Additionally, he will be making an appeal to bulk waste generators
like educational institutions and hotels to set up decentralized composting
equipment in their respective premises and encourage the citizens to segregate
organic waste for further composting.
The
ministry plans to promote the initiative through a multi-platform communication
campaign featuring Bachchan which will be active soon.
Representative
Image
Source: ANI
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