Designed by an Australian company, the Aerobin launched by MP Shashi Tharoor processes wet and dry garbage and produces organic fertilisers

Mumbai: Unveiling a unique technique to scientifically process biodegradable waste at a girl’s school in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor introduced aerobin, a type of composting bin that handles waste. On January 21, Mr Tharoor donated aerobin to the Peroorkada Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School. Designed by an Australian company, the aerobin composts dry leaves, wood, paper and kitchen waste and in turn produces organic fertiliser.

While at Peroorkada Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School I was proud to launch a project of a composting aerobin to help waste management. Designed in Australia and made in India, it processes leaves, wood and paper, Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram said in a tweet along with posting pictures of the launch.

“Thiruvananthapuram’s long and eventful journey for a proper waste management system is coming to a full circle with the new aerobins,” he further added.

The aerobin, which costs up to Rs 10,000 will be used for the first time in Kerala and based on the impact of the bin at the Peroorkada school, more bins will be installed across the city. For now, several bins have been given to Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation (TMC) and Thanal NGO to test the aerobin. Thanal is a public interest research, advocacy, education and action group based in Thiruvananthapuram that trains people on community waste management)

Concerned about the open burning of waste, Mr Tharoor studied several eco-friendly models of processing waste being used across the world that dealt with waste management and finalised the aerobin system.

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It comes in three different sizes – 200, 400 and 600 litres. Fortunately, the device, though designed by an Australian company, is manufactured in India for export purposes.

According to Mr. Tharoor, aerobins are more effective as unlike the conventional composting units that can only process wet waste, aerobin can treat all kinds of waste including food, lawn clippings, green garden cuttings, leaves and small twigs, crumpled newspaper and roots or branches.

It is user-friendly as all one has to do is feed the waste from the top and the compost will be extracted from the bottom. No turning of biomass is necessary. Besides, it also lowers Greenhouse Gas emissions. It has a provision to collect leachate, liquid that percolates from waste. This leachate can be used as a valuable liquid fertiliser that can give plants a quick boost of nutrients.

It is also vermin resistant meaning that it will prevent pests or to spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Heat generated through micro-organic activity in aerobin raises the temperature in the main compartment of the bin. This kills most weeds, weed-seeds and disease-carrying micro-organisms associated with the decomposition of organic material like lawn clippings, leaves, corn stalks and straw, manures and sludges.

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NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.