VERMICULTURE
The Orchid is committed for the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Re-cycle.
In Back of the House areas and kitchens we have a
4 bin segregation system which is playing a vital role
in waste management where we segregate our all waste products
based on the nature of the article which can be summarized
as follows:
Black
bin
-- food waste (wet garbage)
White bin
-- plastic, bottles, cans
Red bin --
non-recycle material (cigarette buds, oily paper, broken
glass)
Green bin
-- recycling material (paper, card board)
Garbage is again segregated
in the garbage room
(secondary segregation). Wet garbage is kept in walk-n-cooler
at 9-10 degree celcius. Dry garbage i.e. Bottles, papers,
cans, burnt oil is kept in dry garbage area.
The wet garbage is screened
& processed through a pulvarizer (food crusher) machine.
This machine reduced the volume of wet garbage by making
it into a thick paste and removing the water and oil from
it. Burnt oil & fats is given to scrap vendor along
with dry garbage for recycling. (burnt oil used for making
of grease & soap)
Vermiculture
Size
of pits:
l-3’, w-3.5’, h-5’
Requirements:
Pebbles
River Sand
Sugarcane Bagasse
Cow Dung
Earthworms
Each pit will have 7 layers
of beds which are as follows
1)
layer of pebbles
To keep the earthworms
cool as in a riverbed.
2)
layer of river sand
This retains the moisture
& slow evaporation results in cooling.
3)
layer of washed and sun dried sugarcane bagasse
To absorb the extra moisture
& release it slowly resulting in evaporation &
cooling to give the earthworms an ideal environment to
live & thrive.
4)
processed cow dung mixed with vermicastings
The processed cowdung
is conducive to the breeding of micro organisms, which
along with the earthworms decompose organic wastes. Also
this cowdung greatly favours the growth of earthworms.
It has an antiseptic effect which repels the rats &
insects.
5)
another layer of washed & sun dried sugarcane bagasse
6)
processed soil which contains live earthworms & vermicastings
(earthworm eggs) over the layer of sugarcane baggase
7)
vermiculture soil containing hundreds of live earthworms
The above beds are structured
for the proper facilitating of vermiculture process.
Wet garbage is washed
& rinsed properly with water so that oil is washed
out from food waste. It is then processed through the
pulvarizer machine & minced. This minced food waste
is then mixed with cow dung & dry leaves and put evenly
into all pits.
The layer is turned upside
down every alternate day in order to aerate the entire
pit. Once a week the manure, which is forms at the top,
is removed. This manure is strained through a strainer,
to ensure that the earthworms are returned to vermipits.
This also ensures that the earthworms do not die in the
process.
The above measures helps us to achieve our aim of
being a successful "ZERO
GARBAGE" HOTEL.
The Orchid is a “zero-garbage”
Hotel. We have adopted a Vermiculture
program for which we have 9
pits onsite.
To speed up this process we have also invested
in a compactor-cum-crusher
which minces all food waste including bones so as to facilitate
faster composting. The below gives an estimation of our
garbage and their end results. which can be summarized
as follows:
Definition
Estimation
Destination
Total food waste generated 389 kgs per day
108 kgs for Vermiculture &
the rest goes to the
piggary
Tins generated:
11 kgs per day Recycling Vendor
Cans generated:
1 kg per day
Recycling Vendor
Bottles generated:
5.5 kgs per day
Recycling Vendor
Paper & cardboard
20
kgs per day
Recycling Vendor
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