City malls now sell organic manure generated by Corpn

In a move to find new customers for the manure it produces from composting wet waste collected every day, the Greater Chennai Corporation has set up manure shops at major shopping malls in the metropolis.

According to a Chennai Corporation senior official, the organic manure shops are functioning in major shopping malls like Phoenix mall, City Centre mall and Ampa Skywalk Mall. “Visitors to these malls can buy one kg of organic manure for Rs 20 and an initiative has been taken to increase the usage of organic manure in gardening,” the official said.

In September, the civic body had announced that it would sell organic manure produced using bio-degradable waste to the public. As on September 18, the civic body had a huge stock of around 190 tonnes of organic manure in hand. Residents, to buy the manure, can also contact or send WhatsApp message to 9445194802. The civic body would home deliver the manure by collecting money during the delivery.

Apart from selling organic manure to the residents, the civic body supplies manure to the horticulture department. Chennai Corporation also uses organic manure in its parks. National Agro Foundation and Chennai Testing Laboratory Private Limited has issued quality assurance certificates to the manure produced by the Chennai Corporation.

The official added that the organic manure shops have been set up in 20 places including Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar, Ambattur and VGP Golden Beach. “We have home delivered 9,910 kg of organic manure and earned Rs 1.98 lakh as revenue. Apart from promoting door delivery, we will also increase the number of shops in the city,” he said.

While welcoming the initiative, M Bharath Kumar, a resident said that the organic manure helped him grow organic vegetables in his garden. “However, the Chennai Corporation should increase the outlets and promote its produce,” he urged.

Of the total around 5,000 tonnes of garbage collected every day, the civic body segregates and composts 400 tonnes of organic waste. The civic body has as many as 139 micro composting centres, 537 bamboo pits apart from other composting facilities.