A group of concerned youths inculcating waste management in Ndirande through converting it into compost fertilizer

* It’s just a passion of concern of 14-plus volunteers financing themselves from their own pockets

* They are motivating the communities to store their household waste products and hand them over to the Impact Group

* The group is also raising tree seedlings which they want to plant on Ndirande Mountain

* That have been left bare through wanton cutting down of trees by the community members

By Petro Mkandawire, Correspondent

Careless waste disposal is on a worrisome increase in Ndirande, Blantyre and as the rainy season is picking up, risk of being contaminated by cholera, whose rate of new cases is on the rise, a group of concerned youths is inculcating waste management in the area’s communities to convert the waste into compost fertilizer.

And it’s just a passion of concern of 14-plus volunteers, as some of them are employed while others are in school — doing all this in their free time and in shifts.

Trending as Community Impact Group, its director Gift Landani said they are encouraging Ndirande community members and Malawians in general to take part in agroforestry and shifting their mindset from the use of inorganic fertilizer and opt for compost manure.

In an interview on Tuesday at their operation camp on Ndirande Mountain, Landani said they want to combine waste management and green initiative by planting trees on the mountain — once famous for a rich cover of trees but now completely laid bare.

They are motivating the communities to store their household waste products and hand them over to the Impact Group, which they are recycling into compost manure — an organic fertilizer making which they trained to produce by waste management organisation, Crown Ministry.

“We thought it wise as youths to recycle waste from markets and households into compost fertilizer which can be applied in any crop crop field as well as for household landscape,” he said.

Though a protected area, the mountain is also encroached by community members, who turned the bare surfaces into crop fields and Landani said they are encouraging those that farm there to practise the right agroforestry but replacing trees around their fields.

Thus they ventured into the production of compost fertilizer for such farmers well as for those elsewhere — including landscapers and other stakeholders.

They emphasize that inorganic fertilizer is expensive while compost manure also does well for crops without adding any inorganic fertilizer, saying a 350ml of a cup of manure per crop station suffices.

On top of producing the compost fertilizer, the group is also raising tree seedlings which they want to encourage people to plant on Ndirande Mountain that have been wantonly cut down by the community members.

Landani said they are geared to handle market and household’s waste into fertilizer to address sanitary and pollution concerns, saying they encourage households that they should sort out and separate plastics from their trash first as part of their contribution towards the environmental protection.

Each forestry season, the group target to replenish the mountain with about 10,000 trees while further encouraging those farming there to take very good care of them to realise huge percentage of seedling survival.

“We have seedlings of different type of trees such as pine, m’mbawa, bluegum and samba, which we are expecting to plant each and every forestry season,” said Landani, adding that for this season they want to work hand in hand with the farmers to plant almost 40% trees and 60% crops on Ndirande Mountain.

As it stands the group is working with almost 50 households which provide them with both organic and inorganic waste and 25 farmers, who grow crops on the mountain.

The farmers provide them with maize stocks which is being combined with the household and market waste to produce the compost fertilizer.

All this initiative is purely voluntary working as the group members contribute funds from their pockets every month to financially sustain the project.

After their training by the waste advisors, Crown Ministry, they were provided with starter pack materials such as a wheelbarrow, industrial gloves, watering can and gumboots, but they are still lacking in finances to procure protective materials such as face masks, work suits, gloves, watering cans and work suits.

The funds they raise from group contributions cater for transportation of trash from the households and marketplace but it is not sustainable since just a few of them are employed and the rest are school students.

“It is our wish to increase collection of more trash but finances hinder our appetite in waste management,” Landani said, adding that they continue to engage people to manage mini green food gardens around their households — to be provided with same compost fertilizer.

“We want to increase contributions from households from 50 to 300, who should sort out the trash and to teach them how to grow crops on a house garden with the use of compost fertilizer,” Landani said.

Established in 2021 under the theme ‘Cleaning and Greening Initiative’, the group appeals for support, both financial, equipment and costs of collection of waste.

Landani said they approached stakeholders, and still do, but the response has been lukewarm apart from the positive minds of households who are sorting out their waste.

“But that does not discourage us,” Landani emphasized. “We are eyeing for a better Ndirande environment and we know sooner or later community members will identify with us to forge forward.”

The rise of cholera cases is indeed on the rise. On November 2, Blantyre alone registered 656 cases accompanied by 26 deaths while on Tuesday, November 15 the figure was at 669 with 26 deaths.

Nationally, reported cases of cholera, as reported by the Ministry of Health, a total of 110 new cases were recorded on November 2 accompanied by two related deaths with 198 being admitted in treatment units.

Come Tuesday, November 13, there were 113 new cases recorded accompanied by four deaths with 169 admitted.

Since the onset of the outbreak in March in Machinga District, the cumulative confirmed cases is at 8,374; 252 deaths with all 29 districts affected while 7,953 people have since recovered from the deadly disease.