The Swachagraha Kalika Kendra was founded as part of an initiative to make Bangalore cleaner and greener. It’s India’s first learning centre for solid waste management.
What is Swachagraha Kalika Kendra?
- Swachagraha Kalika Kendra, a learning centre in the guise of a theme park, was created to raise awareness about solid waste management.
- It is a learning centre for managing kitchen and garden waste through composting.
- The people of Bangalore’s HSR (Hosur Sarjapur Road) colony are a part of the SWMRT (Solid Waste Management Round Table).
- To enhance their efforts in waste management, the SWMRT, along with BBMP, the Horticulture team, policymakers, and like-minded individuals, launched the campaign, Swachagraha. The centre also received funding from MLA Satish Reddy for its establishment.
- Through the Swachagraha campaign, the SWMRT aims to drive 1 million Bangaloreans to compost.
- As part of the Swachagraha campaign, the Swachagraha Kalika Kendra, a composting-themed learning centre in the form of a theme park, was created.
- The theme park attracts visitors not only from Bangalore but also from across the country and overseas.
The mission of Kalika Kendra
- In the Swachagraha Kalika Kendra, people can learn to manage their kitchen and garden waste through composting.
- The learning centre provides information not only on composting but also on growing one’s own chemical-free vegetables and greens.
- To serve the purpose of educating visitors about composting, etc., the learning centre houses 20 home and community composting models.
- Visitors can then choose the composting model that best suits them.
- Decentralised processing of domestic waste paves the way for a clean, garbage-free city.
- Decentralised management of other community waste will bring down the waste to 5 to 10% that reaches the landfill.
- Shanti Tummala, a member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT), says they invite apartment residents to learn the entire composting process. This paves the way for the decentralisation of waste, so that hundreds of tonnes are not dumped in one location, which would cause problems.
- Vasuki Iyengar, another member of the SWMRT says that they intend to divert the kitchen and garden waste from going to landfills by converting it into compost. The composted material can serve as food for trees along roadsides and in parks.