The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Thursday launched a special project for source segregation of organic waste and to produce compost from wet trash using an eco-friendly aerobic composting technology, officials said.
Project S.O.R.T. (Segregation of Organic Waste for Recycling & Treatment) was launched by the West Zone authorities at DAV School at Vikas Puri. It will also be started before August 15 at four more societies seeking to make them a zero-waste ecosystem. The project supports the Central government's "Clean India Mission" and aims to achieve a zero-waste ecosystem for societies, schools, and institutes, the MCD said in a statement.
"This project has been initiated as a step towards source segregation of organic waste and to produce compost from the wet waste using an eco-friendly aerobic composting technology- Aerobin," the statement said, adding, that it converts organic waste into compost within 40-45 days.
"As our landfill sites are overburdened with waste and creating many problems like soil pollution, water pollution, and global warming, IPCA and SLMTT have come forward with this innovative technology project S.O.R.T to solve the problem of solid waste management at a decentralized level," it said.
Wet waste has more potential to release greenhouse gases, and so it is best dealt with at source only. If the waste is properly segregated as wet and dry waste and wet waste is composted at the community or society level itself, it will not reach landfill sites and greenhouse gas emissions can be considerably reduced, the civic body said.
Kumar Abhishek, Deputy Commissioner, West Zone, congratulated the teachers and students of the school for participating in the project and encouraged them to give their full support to make their school, a zero-waste school. He also shared the initiatives of the MCD west zone with different NGOs, and SHGs towards creating zero-waste communities, the statement said.
Project SORT is the flagship project of Swarn Lata Motherson Trust (SLMTT), which is implemented by the Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA). The project has successfully been implemented at more than 57 locations in Delhi-NCR, including in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and Faridabad, the statement said.
