In West End Colony, New Delhi, the Residents’ Welfare Association, (WERWA) decided to try out the AAGA method of converting kitchen waste into compost after a presentation by Mr. Pradeep Chadha of Daily Dump/Vatama Solutions. So, on 11 th February, 2019, we installed 2 AAGAS in our Colony, as we thought we would do a trial first to see how well they worked. We enlisted some of our most willing residents to start segregating their garbage and we put their kitchen waste into the AAGAS. We layered cocopeat and a teaspoonful of microbes a...

My success story is essentially a work in progress. But let me tell you how the journey began. If there is a story, there is a protagonist, a hero. My hero is the humble garbage collector. He rings the bell to collect the garbage of the day. He has a big cart with large sacks hanging around them. So, that particular week, my staff was off and the onus of packing and throwing the bags fell on me.

While handing over the bags, over a few pleasantries, I noticed that he had a big gash on his hand which was bleeding. To my horror, he ripp...