Gurgaon societies adopt zero-waste culture, make money off garbage

Compete to make it to list of exemplary societies awarded by state govt for going green

The state government’s effort to encourage residents to adopt scientific methods for waste disposal is starting to bear fruit.

Vipul Greens, a condominium on Sohna Road, became a zero-waste society with their waste management project in which they do not use any chemicals to process their kitchen and garden waste.

Several housing societies have turned zero-waste, in line with the government’s vision of a clean Haryana, and many more are building waste management systems.

This year, four societies were felicitated by the state government on Republic Day for becoming zero-waste societies, and several more are adopting in-house composting methods to make it to the honour’s list on Independence Day later this year.

Among the societies bidding to be added to this list of exemplary composters, are Vipul Greens and Uniworld Gardens -1 on Sohna Road in Gurgaon.

The two societies are among the 15, of the 500 housing societies in Gurgaon, that have started segregating and composting their waste.

Vipul Greens, constructed eights years ago, is spread across 18 acres and houses 644 families.

The waste management project, which was implemented at a cost of ₹12 lakh, has not only kept their premises clean but has also emerged as a template for other housing societies to follow.

Earlier, residents grappled with waste pile-up on the premises as authorities did not collect garbage in time. They also complained of waste being dumped illegally.

“We decided to have a waste management system of our own. The objective was to make residents aware of ways to segregate waste and convert kitchen and horticulture waste into compost,” Amit Jindal, president, RWA, Vipul Greens, said.

On an average, the compost plant processes 200kg of kitchen and horticultural waste daily. Residents said that in one year, the RWA processed nearly 75,000kg waste and produced 15,500kg compost. They said that the compost is free of chemicals and is used to boost garden culture in their society.

“Our complex has close to 13,000 plants. Earlier, we used to purchase manure to nourish these plants. However, since our waste treatment plant went into operation, we have been using the compost and have been selling compost to outsiders as well at ₹5 per kilogram,” Naresh Goyal, general secretary, RWA, Vipul Greens, said.

The RWA has installed two waste bins in the compound— green and black for dumping kitchen waste and other kinds of waste, respectively. These do not include electronic items.

At Uniworld Gardens-1, the compost plant has been designed to enable it to process waste generated by 500 households.

The society processes 9,000 kg of kitchen waste in a month, which gives around 800- 900 kg of compost per month.

Residents said that while the compost plant processes around 300kg of wet waste daily, another 450kg of dry and hazardous domestic waste is taken to a recovery centre for sorting. From there, this waste is sent to recycling sites. For dumping e-waste, the society has collection points in each tower, and this waste is collected by an authorised e-waste processor.

“The compost is used to boost greenery in our society. More than 4 acres in our society is dedicated to horticulture. Residents could also use the manure in their terrace gardens,” Nirlept Singh, president, RWA, Uniworld Gardens-1, said.

More and more societies are turning zero-waste at a time when the city’s only waste treatment plant at Bandhwari is lying defunct. The plant shut down after a fire in 2013.