Calcutta Rescue has launched a pilot project using the humble earthworm to dispose of waste and create jobs.
Rumia, head of special projects at Calcutta Rescue, explains that the organization has set up a small worm composting plant in the Dakshineswar slum in the north of Kolkata with financial support from the Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation. She says: "The alleys in the slum are dirty and the space is cramped, animals roam around and garbage is dumped everywhere. The garbage collection system doesn't work. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, many slum dwellers have lost their jobs."
Two women now earn money by collecting manure from nearby cow shelters, water hyacinths (an invasive weed) from nearby canals and waste from local vegetable markets. The latter is currently dumped into the sewers, clogging them and creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The collected organic material is left to rot for a few days before being transferred to pits where it is converted into compost with the help of earthworms. The whole process takes 40-45 days.
A housewife who took part in one of the information events said: "I am glad that the waste problem is now being solved and that we can earn some money."
More portraits
- From despair to determination: Ashfaque's story
- Vocational training at Calcutta and how Umar found a job.
- After seven years, 57-year-old Mrinmoy has been cured of tuberculosis.
- Bapi and Aava - Back from the edge of the abyss
- Projekt KMWSC05: „Hoffnung im Sack in den Brickfields (Projekt – Sack-Gardening)