MU institute’s students turn canteen waste into fertilisers

MUMBAI: As part of the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Swachh Mumbai campaign, the Garware Institute of Career Education and Development of the University of Mumbai (MU) initiated a project to convert waste into fertilisers.

The institute has become the first to recycle its own waste and use it as manure for cultivation on the campus. The students of Agri-Business Management and Sustaniable Development and Environment Manage-ment will carry out the project.

Talking about the project, Jayshri Shirke, coordinator of Agri-Business Management, said, “We see so much waste from our campus canteen being wasted or dumped, causing more and more pollution. Hence, we decided to start converting our own waste into manure to use in cultivation.” As of now, waste generated from the institute’s canteen is being used in the project. In the future, the department is planning to use all the waste generated from the entire MU campus (Kalina) for the project.

Moreover, according to Ms Shirke, five plots have been constructed on the institute’s campus where vegetable and fruit are being cultivated. The fertilisers derived from the waste have been used in these plots.

Explaining about the salience of this project, she said, “What students study in books, is what they need to act on the field. This way, the students get a practical knowledge and in-depth understanding about the concept of recycling and converting waste into fertilisers.”  From this year, both the aforementioned courses which were diploma courses are being made degree courses are more and more students are showing interest.