Municipal waste composting project

Sustainable Development Co-Benefits
Project description
This project produces organic manure from municipal solid waste (MSW) and food waste (comprising of fish waste and coconut husk) through composting.
Waste materials are collected from various parts of Puri, a town in the state of Orissa in India, and treated aerobically to produce the organic manure. In absence of the project activity, the waste materials would have been dumped in unscientific and ordinary landfills, resulting in emissions of methane gas. Methane gas is 27 times more damaging than CO2.
The project has four main objectives:
1. Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
2. Effective utilisation of waste materials for producing organic manure called ‘Enrich’.
3. Preservation and improvement of soil quality through the application of Enrich
4. Enhancing the agricultural crop yield
The project also contributes to several UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Social Well-being:
The project avoids huge quantities of municipal solid waste and food waste, which if allowed to decay in unscientific and ordinary landfills, are breeding grounds for germs which can cause outbreak of fatal diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
Economic Well-being:
The project produces eco-friendly organic manure which is marketed under the brand name ‘Enrich’. The real economic benefits of ‘Enrich’ use include improved soil quality, water retention, biological activity, micronutrient content and improved pest resistance of crops.
Environmental Well-being:
In addition to reducing harmful waste and ghg emissions, the project promotes use of environment-friendly organic manure which, in turn, will reduce the use of chemical fertilizers that may be harmful for the soil.