A waste management researcher has urged residents of urban and peri-urban regions to consider producing organic manure from their own kitchen waste materials.
Parivartan Sharma, the cofounder of Ecoloop Solutions Africa said many families have been facing challenges of throwing away their kitchen waste materials.
He adds that institutions which have a kitchen but a small garden, also gets into trouble while throwing away wet waste.
Sharma adds that, after observing those challenges, he and other researchers started discussing how they can manage the waste.
“We observed that waste materials accumulates in kitchen’s daily, dry leaves too are there, kitchen bins are full and it would take two to three days before the garbage collector comes for them” he said.
He revealed that he realised that not all homesteads could dig a compost pit owing to little lands.
Sharma said as they researched, he revealed that he invented the Aerobin Organic Composter, which produces solid and liquid compost manure which is a very effective fertiliser.
He said that he has been enlightening residents of urban areas as well as university environment and research studies students about it.
Sharma said the kitchen garbage such as potato and cabbages peels, banana peels, onion cutoffs, tomato wastes, fruit peels, cooked tea leaves and other waste, are cut in smaller portions and put inside the Aerobin Organic Composter.
The AOC is environmental friendly since it does not produce an awful smell adding that water, additives to speed up reaction and electricity are not needed during the decomposition.
After one month in that AOC, the waste that is inside will have turned into solid and liquid manure and therefore, it can be removed and taken to the farms ready for planting food crops.
The liquid manure is a form of foliar fertiliser which is applied directly to plant leaves for rapid absorption and boosts growth of food crops.
The solid is added directly to the roots of growing food crops or is applied at holes during planting seasons.
“The AOC is now helping residents of estates, plots where there are small gardens, to manage their waste and harvest fertilisers” he said.
“So many people have been contacting me to ask questions about how the AOC works, how the fertiliser is used and many other questions” he adds.
Speaking to journalists at the weekend, Sharma encouraged residents of urban areas to consider using the AOC to manage their adding that the products they will be getting will help them grow vegetables such as cabbages, carrots, spinach, kales including tomatoes and onions at their gardens at home.
He also revealed that institutions of higher learning have been inviting him to share the idea of creativity and waste management with them.
In January, he was invited by St Paul’s University at their main campus in Limuru sub county in Kiambu county during its week long Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park, with an aim of equipping and encouraging its students to come up with solutions to many challenges facing the society these days.
