After having done a workshop on waste segregation, we went on to discuss about what happens to the waste. The intent of this workshop was to teach students of grade 5, Sloka Waldorf School, on what happens to the garbage that isn’t composted and, most importantly, what happens to the garbage that is composted.
We took time explaining why we compost, we spoke about landfills and how they are filling up. Workshop on “Make Your Own Compost” was conducted on Friday, 9th October with 28 participants. The objective of this workshop was to teach children what and why’s of compost, to increase participants knowledge on what can go into the compost bin, to make participants aware of how waste can be made into compost and to enable participants to make their own compost.
We began the workshop by asking participants to share their understanding of what compost is and how it looks like, followed by a quiz on what can go into the compost bin and what cannot go. Finally we got into the process of learning to make your own compost. We told them that there are many different ways to compost and we can spend hours researching the best formula for compost. But a good compost recipe always includes these ingredients: a waste bucket or a bin with holes, carbon that comes from brown organic matter like dried leaves, sawdust, paper, bio-char; nitrogen that comes from kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds, oxygen and water. The inquisitive children asked many questions relating to waste and composting, and its usage. There were couple of children who also shared their experiences of composting in the backyard. We told them about the time periods it takes for the compost to look brown and crumbly and is ready to use and showed them how compost looks like.
Participants were enthusiastic all throughout the workshop and made notes. As part of an exercise participants will make a list of compostable and non-compostable items followed by making their own compost bins. They will share their work and experience with us and we hope participants embark on this journey of composting with their families.
