CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

We make it our business to Think Green® every day. When we Think Green, we think of a world... where there are so many clean, alternative ways to produce power that the threat of exhausting our natural resources is forever put to rest. where “reduce, reuse, and recycle” become the watchwords of every family and company in North America. where companies take a leadership position by investing in cleaner technologies so that air pollution becomes a thing of the past. where the environment is respected and every action is aimed at recovery and restoration. where Waste Management partners with its customers to use our knowledge and experience to their benefit and the benefit of the planet, leading them to new, sustainable solutions and working with every link in the supply chain to address the entire life cycle of a product. where Waste Management’s commitment to excellence and leadership has positioned us to deliver lasting solutions to the environmental challenges our planet will face in the 21st century.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Looking beyond the current "take, make and dispose” extractive industrial model, the circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. Relying on system-wide innovation, it aims to redefine products and services to design waste out, while minimising negative impacts. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the circular model builds economic, natural and social capital.

Reduce

◾ Reducing what you waste is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment.

◾ From thinking differently about what you buy, to using re-usable items, and composting at home – there are lots of ways to make a real difference.

◾ You can reduce the amount of waste you create by choosing what rubbish you throw away. This can be easy and fun – Just follow our simple guidelines to reduce you waste at home, school or work.

◾ What to buy and how to use it – crush shopping waste.

◾ Waste reduction starts at the supermarket, by making slight alterations to your shopping list, you can significantly reduce the amount of waste created in and around the home.

◾ Buy only what you need. Reduce unnecessary waste by avoiding pointless purchases. Items that rarely get used can be borrowed or shared with others.

◾ Buy all purpose household cleaner instead of buying many different ones for each cleaning role.

◾ Buy products with little packaging so that less packaging ends up in your rubbish bin.

◾ For those items you use regularly, buy in bulk instead of smaller amounts. This will save you money as well as reduce waste.

Reduce Paper Waste by cancelling unwanted mail.

Reuse

◾ As much as possible buy items that can be used multiple times, or have multiple uses.

◾ Buy glass bottles instead of plastic bottles and cans. Buy rechargeable batteries.

◾ Sell or give away unwanted items. Reduce waste by giving unwanted items to family friends or neighbours. You could even sell your possessions in a car-boot sale to earn extra cash.

Recycle more

◾ Collect your paper, Plastic, Glass and other recyclable items and sell them to waste collection agencies.

◾ Ensure your building/society has an efficient Organic Waste composter that converts all of your food waste into compost that can then be used for your gardening or landscaping.

PROBLEM STATEMENT - INEFFICIENT METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL FOR ORGANIC WASTE:

Landfills -

Landfill sites are not pretty, but unfortunately, the problem is bigger than just the sight of huge piles of waste. The health and environmental issues presented by landfill waste make it an ineffective solution and one that needs to be stopped as soon as possible.

◾ Toxins and Leachate - Many materials from the waste such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, PVC, solvents, acids and lead leach into our soil and groundwater, and become environmental hazards for years.

◾ Greenhouse gas – The organic materials put in landfills are generally compacted down and covered which causes them to break down in an anaerobic process which releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The implications for global warming and climate change are enormous. Methane is also a flammable gas and has caused numerous explosions on the many Landfill sites in the last few years.

◾ Land Wastage - The current Landfills surrounding most of our Urban Cities are nearly Full to capacity and continuing with this disposal system will result in acres of precious land being brought under waste disposal, which will eventually render the land unfit for any other use for as long as a half century before it can be stabilised for other uses.

Centralised Composting Plants:

The Centralised Composting Sites for Organic waste that have been set up in Bengaluru have many downsides which make them an inefficient solution for Urban India:

◾ Transportation issues - There are often waste spills or leakage from trucks during transport, causing a nuisance. Secondary loading from the initial tipper truck to the larger transport trucks are not always synchronized and waste ends up getting dumped on the ground at the transfer sites. There is also huge expenditure of resources in transportation not to mention the large Carbon footprint with the daily transport system.

◾ Local Resistance Due to the Outdated Methods of Composting employed at most of the Centralised Composting Plants, there is often a lot of Smell and other Pollution. This creates a lot of resistance in the local community to Large Waste Management facilities in their areas which cause undue stress.

WHAT IS COMPOSTING?

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. Humans have been using composting for the past 2000 years but the same method has witnessed some technological advancement in the recent years.

Composting is nature's way of recycling. Composting biodegrades organic waste, i.e. food waste, manure, leaves, grass trimmings, paper, wood, feathers, crop residue etc, and turns it into a valuable organic fertilizer.

Composting is a natural biological process, carried out under controlled aerobic conditions (requires oxygen). In this process, various microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, break down organic matter into simpler substances. The effectiveness of the composting process is dependent upon the environmental conditions present within the composting system i.e. oxygen, temperature, moisture, material disturbance, organic matter and the size and activity of microbial populations.

Composting is not a mysterious or complicated process. Natural recycling (composting) occurs on a continuous basis in the natural environment. Organic matter is metabolized by microorganisms and consumed by invertebrates. The resulting nutrients are returned to the soil to support plant growth.

Composting is relatively simple to manage and can be carried out on a wide range of scales in almost any indoor or outdoor environment and in almost any geographic location. It has the potential to manage most of the organic material in the waste stream including restaurant waste, leaves and yard wastes, farm waste, animal manure, animal carcasses, paper products, sewage sludge, wood etc. and can be easily incorporated into any waste management plan.

Humans have been using composting for the past 2000 years but the method has witnessed some technological advancement in the recent years.

WHAT CAN BE COMPOSTED IN THIS WIG’S OWC MODEL?

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. Humans have been using composting for the past 2000 years but the same method has witnessed some technological advancement in the recent years.

Composting is nature's way of recycling. Composting biodegrades organic waste, i.e. food waste, manure, leaves, grass trimmings, paper, wood, feathers, crop residue etc, and turns it into a valuable organic fertilizer.

Composting is a natural biological process, carried out under controlled aerobic conditions (requires oxygen). In this process, various microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, break down organic matter into simpler substances. The effectiveness of the composting process is dependent upon the environmental conditions present within the composting system i.e. oxygen, temperature, moisture, material disturbance, organic matter and the size and activity of microbial populations.

Composting is not a mysterious or complicated process. Natural recycling (composting) occurs on a continuous basis in the natural environment. Organic matter is metabolized by microorganisms and consumed by invertebrates. The resulting nutrients are returned to the soil to support plant growth.

Composting is relatively simple to manage and can be carried out on a wide range of scales in almost any indoor or outdoor environment and in almost any geographic location. It has the potential to manage most of the organic material in the waste stream including restaurant waste, leaves and yard wastes, farm waste, animal manure, animal carcasses, paper products, sewage sludge, wood etc. and can be easily incorporated into any waste management plan.

Humans have been using composting for the past 2000 years but the method has witnessed some technological advancement in the recent years.

WHAT CANNOT BE COMPOSTED?

There are certain materials apart from inorganic we should not put them into the OWC or we should avoid putting them into the OWC as it will slow down the decomposition processes and can be foul smelling and attract rats, mice and other vermin.

◾ Dog and Cat Poop ◾ Glossy or Coated Paper ◾ Sticky Labels on Fruits and Vegetables ◾ Coal Fire Ash ◾ Sawdust from Treated Wood ◾ Large Branches ◾ Synthetic Fertilizer ◾ Cat droppings/litter ◾ Toxic materials ◾ Non-biodegradable materials ◾ Faeces and Manure of Carnivorous Animals ◾ Cooking Oil ◾ Personal Hygiene Products ◾ Plants treated with Pesticides and Herbicides ◾ Diseased and Infested Plants 

FREQUENTALY ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN I REALLY COMPOST ALL MY KITCHEN WASTE? WHAT ABOUT BONES?

Yes, you can really compost all organic waste (although watery soups and stews need to be drained first). You can put in things such as fish bones, chicken carcasses and other bones. The fish bones will compost thoroughly and disappear. The chicken and larger meat bones will come out cleaned of any traces of meat (and will not be attractive to pets or vermin). Alternately you can install an additional shredder which will crush the bones into smaller particles which can then be composted in the OWC machine.

WHAT CAN I COMPOST?

WHERE CAN I BUY SAWDUST?

Fine cut up and dry sawdust is to be used and it is normally available with sawmills or wood cutters, and they can easily be bought from saw dust supplier. Wood pellets can also be used alternatively, they are normally available from a solid fuel stove supplier (they are the latest ‘carbon neutral' energy source for stoves and boilers)

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN USE APART FROM SAWDUST/WOOD PELLETS?

Coir (coconut fiber) works well. AND old compost

CAN I USE CARDBOARD OR SHREDDED PAPER INSTEAD OF WOOD PELLETS /SAWDUST?

In theory, yes, but paper needs to be cross-shredded otherwise it bunches up in the composter and forms a ball. Cardboard is more of a problem as it needs to be cut up into small pieces by hand. You also need a considerable amount, so it's better to consider this as a supplement, not a substitution.

WHAT ABOUT GARDEN WASTE? CAN I PUT THIS IN?

You can put in any vegetation, except hard, woody stems and branches – these don't have enough time to compost down, even if shredded. For this reason we don't recommend wood chips in place of wood pellets or sawdust.

IF I PUT MY GARDEN WEEDS IN, WILL IT KILL OFF THE SEEDS?

The only common seeds that seem to be indestructible are tomato seeds. The heat generated in the composter and bacteria will destroy all other seeds.

CAN I PUT MY GRASS CUTTINGS IN?

Yes, though it is recommended that you combine this with other organic waste for a well-rounded compost.

DOES THE COMPOST PROCESS PRODUCE ANY LIQUID?

Yes in theory it should but our process is designed in a way which does not let liquid come out of the OWC. Moisture content of the mixture is regulated by the absorbents like wood pellets/sawdust, and old compost. It is important to drain your wet kitchen waste of any excess liquid before you put it into the OWC.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE WASTE TO BE CONVERTED INTO A RICH SOIL ADDITIVE (COMPOST)?

Our OWC machine process reduces the volume of Organic waste by 40-60% by evaporating moisture and discharging carbon dioxide gas. The remaining 40-60% is turned into a soil additive (Manure). The compost generated after the 6-8 hour process can be used immediately, or else transferred to breathable gunny bags for 2-3 days before using for farming.

DOES THIS MACHINE PROCESS PRODUCE ANY FOUL SMELL?

No, WIG's OWC doesn't produce any foul smell during the process, or after the process. The foul smell which is generated by wet waste gets removed within 10 mins of the process by our special bio-culture.

WHAT IS THE NUTRIENT VALUE OF THE COMPOST?

The A & L Great Lakes report includes analyses for Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium (Ca) – and possibly some additional secondary and micronutrients. In addition, the report may contain calculations for phosphate (P2O5) and potash (K2O). The three numbers on a fertilizer label are N‐P2O5‐K2O. You can insert the analysis result for these three components to see what the fertilizer label of the as received compost would be.

WHAT IS MOISTURE AND DRY MATTER?

The laboratory dries a representative portion of your compost to determine the moisture and the dry matter percentages. If you add the moisture and dry matter results together you’ll get 100%. The compost pile increases and decreases in moisture based on the environment (rain, drought, etc).

WHAT IS COMPOST pH?

The pH of the compost is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the compost. pH 7 is NEUTRAL. pH levels below 7 are ACIDIC. pH levels above 7 are ALKALINE. The vast majority of the composts that are tested by A&L Great Lakes Laboratories are Alkaline, with a normal pH range of 7.5‐7.8. There are very few composts which are acidic in pH.

HOW IS THE CARBON TO NITROGEN RATIO CALCULATED?

The Carbon result is divided by the Nitrogen result to determine the C:N Ratio. A C:N Ratio of 20:1 ‐ 30:1 is pretty normal for a finished compost. The ratio will be lower if more nitrogen is in the compost. This is especially true of animal waste composts. If the C:N Ratio is high it may indicate that the material has not finished composting.