Harvest and happiness go together. The prospect of material abundance and nourishment and nutrition for many, invariably generates cheer and the impulse for celebration. And there are no exceptions to this, as we in Shanti Niketan know, with our first harvest of compost derived from the lowliest of all substances.
The story began a year ago when inspired by the example of West End, the SNRA placed dedicated bins for collecting dog poop and green waste in the parks in Shanti Niketan which it manages on behalf of the MCD under the PPP scheme. Notices were fixed to remind park visitors that accompanying dogs must be leashed and the pet waste deposited in the bins. The malis in charge of the parks were issued hygienic pick up tools sourced from Amazon.com but as it happened, many of these were returned to the SNRA office. A shovel was considered more efficient for clearing up pathways.
Over the months dog shit and leaf and twig litter had got transformed into a brown odourless mass due to bacteria, worms and microbes which flourished in an ideal natural environment of food, moisture, warmth and air. There is a compost supply now, ready (and suitable we know, only for shrubs and flowering plants) for use when the plantings in the park begin next month.
An additional source of satisfaction is that with the special bins, the SNRA has a sand grain sized mechanism in place for resisting the relent less trend towards global warming. In its absence the MCD concessionaire, SSIL, would have carried away the park waste in the green waste compartment of its tipper truck and dumped it into the nearest landfill, at Okhla. Biodegradables in landfills lead to the generation of Methane, one unit of methane absorbs about 28 times more heat than a unit of carbon dioxide, which in essence is 28 times more polluting than Carbon dioxide. Well begun, they say is half done. We, in Shanti Niketan, can rejoice about our baby step in the right direction.
