Venkaiah Naidu thanks Big B for agreeing to promote 'City Compost'

As an extension of the efforts undertaken by Ministry of Urban Development to encourage processing of solid waste, Venkaiah Naidu today spoke to Amitabh Bachchan and thanked him for agreeing to be the face of the ministry's new communication campaign encouraging citizens to use City Compost produced from municipal solid waste.

Bachchan will be the face of City Compost produced from municipal solid waste under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

India currently produces over 1.54 lakh metric tonne of solid waste per day, 50 percent of which comprises of organic waste that can be converted into compost and gas; 30 percent is inorganic waste, which can be converted into energy. India has the potential to produce 54 lakh metric tonne of compost per annum from waste.

Compost, produced organically from waste, are free of harmful chemicals and serve to provide carbon and primary / secondary nutrients to soil and increases its water retention capacity. Composting imitates nature's way of rebuilding soil by encouraging the decomposition of organic substances. Besides being the cheapest method of disposing organic wastes, composting is eco-friendly, since it prevents production of harmful greenhouse gases (especially methane) and toxic material that pollutes groundwater apart from polluting the environment.

Despite the clear advantages of city compost, the current production of city compost from waste, lags far behind its potential. Hence, a focused communication campaign is being launched with Bachchan as its face to spread awareness and push up the production of city compost leading to increased quantum of waste processing and disposal and lessening the burden on existing dumpsites.

Bachchan is expected to appeal to all citizens, nursery owners and horticulture agencies to pledge to use only city compost in their gardens, farm houses and public gardens. Additionally, he will be making an appeal to bulk waste generators like educational institutions and hotels to set up decentralized composting equipment in their respective premises and encourage the citizens to segregate organic waste for further composting.

The ministry plans to promote the initiative through a multi-platform communication campaign featuring Bachchan which will be active soon.