Compost fertiliser from garbage

Prodipan has surveyed 17 slums in the district town. Families there have been advised to accumulate garbage and hard substances like tin, cans and wood pieces at selected spots. Sixteen vans and a trolley will collect the garbage from 16 dustbins.

It has employed 13 volunteers to collect the garbage and seven workers at its workshop.

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Each van will collect garbage from 400 houses and carry those to the workshop.

Some 5000 families in slum areas have been made aware of the programme. The areas are Kalibari Ferry Ghat, Char Para, Station Rail Gate, Mal Godam, Chamra Godam, KB Ismail Hossain Road, Kathgola Bazar, Kashor, RK Minion Road, Etakhola, Sanki Para, Akua SK Road, Krista Pur, Pal Para, Munshibari Lane, Balashpur and Dul Dul Camp.

Each slum family will pay Tk five and a well-to-do family Tk 15 a month for disposal of garbage.

Sources in the NGO said initially, some 150 tonnes of garbage will be collected monthly and 20 tonnes of comport fertiliser produced from it.

About Tk four lakh will be earned from sale of the compost fertiliser.

Every day, about 100 tonnes of garbage are dumped along roads in the town. The municipal authorities can collect only about 60 tonnes daily.

About Tk 26 lakh could be earned in a month if all the garbage can be used to produce compost fetrtiliser, the Executive Director of Prodipan told The Daily Star.

This will keep the town clean, besides replacing harmful chemical fertiliser with compost, he said.

An official of the municipality said if the pilot project becomes successful, they will take steps so that all the garbage dumped in the town can be used for producing compost.