Bengaluru: Horticulture Department officials, who are in charge of Cubbon Park, have successfully composted dry leaves collected in the park and it is now being used as manure.
The officials have built a few leaf compost pits in the 190-acre park and dry leaves collected during the shedding season is deposited here for composting. Later this is converted to manure by using other organic waste and then used for saplings and trees in the park.
A senior Horticulture Department official said, “Over three tonnes of compost is being produced every year from dry leaves collected in the park. We have constructed 10 leaf composter pits across the park and every day the workers gather the leaves and dump them into the pits. It is left to decompose for over seven months. There are few more pits, where the dry leaves are left to decompose with mud and other organic materials.”
“Once it is converted into manure, we use it to grow new saplings and also add the manure with soil and use it to maintain the trees and plants. This manure is also sent to maintain the gardens in Vidhana Soudha, Raj Bhavan, High Court, Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park and other public parks in the city,” the official said.
Another officer said that the excess leaves are sent to bio technology centre of the horticulture department in Hulimavu, where they also make leaf compost and sell it to farmers at affordable prices.
The officer added, “BBMP can implement something similar like this, as tonnes of leaves are burnt across the city. They can start constructing leaf composting pits and convert the dry leaves into manure, which can sold at a reasonable price to the public.”
