A Valuable Resource

Dear Readers, hopefully you have now prepared yourself to segregate your household waste into ‘wet’ or ‘biodegradable’ and ‘dry’ or ‘non-biodegradable’ waste categories. Further, you have now decided to start composting. You would have got some guidelines from my previous articles in this series. But one always needs actual hands-on training or guidance from the experts. (Eventually, over the period, you yourself will be an expert in this field and will start providing guidance to others who need it!).

In my last week’s article, I had briefly introduced one NGO namely Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal (Enviro-Vigil) working in Thane, Dombivali-Kalyan and in the rural area beyond Kalyan. More about Green Living Consultancy provided by this NGO.

Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal provides consultancy and services to the cooperative housing societies, individual residences, educational institutes, hotels and restaurants, corporate offices etc. in the following sectors.

Waste Management and Waste Audit:

Waste or Garbage is not really a ‘waste’ per se but is valuable resource. Proper segregation of the household waste and further utilization of the segregated waste can earn additional revenue to the residential societies. PDM provides guidance in this regard. They have a team of experts who will visit your house or your society, locate a suitable area or space under your guidance for setting up of a bio- or vermi-composting unit for your society.

They will guide and help you in preparing a suitable pit for biocomposting. At the individual level, you can use a plastic bucket for biocomposting at household level as described in my previous article. But at the society or community level, you need a bigger well-constructed pit.

On the basis of number of households in a society and how much biodegradable waste is generated, this team of experts will give you  the specifications about the size of the composting pit, it’s design etc. and will give you an on site demonstration about how to arrange the raw materials in different layers, how to add the biodegradable waste etc.

They also manage this compost pit for certain period and will eventually train the gardener or other responsible person appointed by the society for this task. Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal has set up such biocomposting units at many residential complexes in Thane.

Apart from services in the waste management sector, Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal also provides consultancy services in Energy Management, Waste water recycling, Rainwater Harvesting, Setting up a Butterfly Garden and performing Green Audit etc. 

Apart from these services, Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal is also helping societies and other establishments in assessment and enhancement of biodiversity within their premises. Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal has recently launched an initiative called ‘MY LAKES’, to spread awareness about the lakes in Thane city.

This NGO also organizes ‘Nandanvan’ Beautiful Garden Competition for the gardening enthusiasts in Thane as well as in Kalyan, Dombivali, Titwala etc. In addition, this NGO has a few ongoing projects in which you can participate.  For more information about this and other activities conducted by PDM,  please contact the following numbers: 

Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal Dombivali: 9833046634

Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal Thane:  9372358454

(The author is an environmentalist. Views personal.)