How This Karnataka Village Cultivated Coconut Farms Out of Wet Waste

Disposal and management of garbage is one big problem in the world. Experts have always stressed on the need for micro-level sorting and management. Though a large part of the world knows this, not many follow it with interest. If followed, this solution is definitely going to help make planet earth a better place. Here is a beautiful instance where the micro-level management of garbage proved to be the most successful project of a village administration.

Alankaru is a tiny village in Kadaba taluk, Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. Once waste management became the gram panchayat’s headache, they started creating awareness among the people regarding waste segregation. Accordingly, people segregated waste before giving it off to the garbage van that would honk before their houses. But the big question still remained: Where does one dump the waste?

Earlier, people dumped garbage anywhere — on street sides, empty sites and almost everywhere. After the discipline of picking garbage from doorstep began, this has stopped in Alankaru. It is now the turn of the gram panchayat to make sure that they don’t dump all of it somewhere and create a new mass of landfill.

That’s when they came up with a smart idea. The Alankaru GP used all possible funds that they could get from the government for waste management and zeroed in on a two-acre plot, set up a waste management plant and planted 250 coconut saplings. This began two years ago.

Wet waste from the entire village is dumped around the coconut trees providing manure. A vermicomposting unit has also been set up in the same area where the excess wet waste is utilized.

“The wet waste has been put to real good use here. The earlier administration began the project and we have continued it. The saplings have grown really well and in about two years they will start bearing fruits, adding to the revenue of the Gram Panchayat,” said Jagannath Shetty, PDO.

“We also have a borewell in the plot and it is used to water the coconut saplings. There is also a rain water harvest set up and we have set an example for the villagers to visit and learn about it. We also plan to plant jasmine in between as a mixed crop so that more wet waste can be used effectively,” said Keshava Gowda, former president of Alankaru Gram Panchayat.

These smart ways have made sure the village stays spic and span and every single dirt is put to the best use.

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