Tamil Nadu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 04, 2006
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Concern over food security for
Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore
the poor

Do you have the time for
Do you have the time for waste?
waste?
A guide to Coimbatore
Pankaja Srinivasan
Make MPs, MLAs accountable
on poll promises: Venkaiah
Live and let live
An educational institution shows the way in waste management
More passenger amenities at
An educational institution shows the way in effective waste
Coimbatore Railway Junction
management
Annual convention
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In Coimbatore Today
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Quest

NOTHING WASTED: Waste management at Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, near Coimbatore. - Photo: M. Periasamy
Coimbatore: While Coimbatore gropes for a solution to problems
of waste management, the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has
found it. A systematic planting of trees and plants, a wastewater
management system that recycles every drop of grey water and a
solid-waste management process has made it an area of rich bio-
diversity.
Six thousand people live on a 400-acre campus and there is not a
shred of garbage lying around. What is more, it is a zero-chemical
campus. One lakh trees are planted, conserved, protected,
labelled and documented here.
There are plants (150 species) that would be the envy of any
Botanical Garden. A medicinal plant garden is carefully nurtured
on the premises. Three tonnes of leaf litter and grass are
generated monthly and all of it is recycled and used for
vermicomposting. The campus generates six lakh litres of sullage
or wastewater everyday (from the hostel, residences, canteens,
kitchens, etc). And every drop is recycled. It is led to a collection
tank where solid wastes are filtered out. Four to five balls of
Effective Microbes (EM is a liquid concentrate produced from over
80 strains of bacteria.) Bokashi is added to approximately
2,50,000 litres of water. It is then led into the aeration tank where
atmospheric oxygen is dissolved into the water.
A retention time of 24 to 32 hours is given for the aeration and the
microbes to act on the sullage. The EM treated water then goes
into a settling tank. The sludge that settles down is removed and
used for coconut farming. For more details contact: The Centre for