Gandhian institute shows the green way

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN Ahmedabad: The city’s premier Gandhian institute has set an excellent example of how to make best out of waste, thus contributing to conservation of environment. Gujarat Vidyapith experimented with transforming waste on its campus to compost and using it as manure for campus’ green cover. The experiment has already borne fruit, just a year after it began. Based on self-help concept, every morning, Gujarat Vidyapith students start cleaning the campus. They go about collecting all waste and then store them in a corner of the sprawling campus. “Earlier, we had to spend around Rs 4,000 for waste disposal every month. It Also, when it was burnt, it added to the pollution. But now we have found a better use for it, which benefits us,” said Gujarat Vidyapith registrar, Rajendra Khimani. It is estimated that everyday waste weighing half a tonne is collected from the Vidyapith campus that is spread over 20 acres. The compost generated by the wastes has been utilised in campus plantations. “We collect the waste and mix some substances in it to prepare the right kind of organic fertilizer for plants. Our expenditure on chemical fertiliser has been done away with.” Vidyapith is one of the few institutions that has banned the use of plastic on campus. “Hence, there are less chances of coming across plastic waste while cleaning. The institution is also planing to give this compost waste to others who are interested in using organic manure,’’ said campus in-charge, Abhubhai Rabari. It comes as no surprise that this concept is based on Gandhi’s philosophy of self reliance and using environment as common human property. “Today, we have to purchase culture to transform the waste to compost but next year we will produce this culture in our microbiology college in Sadara. This success experiment will be replicated in all the educational institutions run by Gujarat Vidyapith,” adds Khimani.