Community Composting Units Launched in Budge Budge Municipality
In partnership with ITC CSR, BITAN has set up 8 decentralised composting units serving over 3,000 households, diverting 2 tonnes of organic waste from landfills every day.
Eight community-level composting units are now operational across Budge Budge Municipality, established through a new CSR partnership between BITAN and ITC Limited. The units, inaugurated by the Municipal Chairman on 22 March 2026 ahead of World Water Day, collectively process approximately 2 tonnes of kitchen and garden waste daily, diverting it from the overwhelmed Budge Budge landfill site.
Each unit is designed to serve 350–450 households within a defined collection radius. BITAN's Safai Mitras — a cadre of trained waste workers, predominantly women from urban poor communities — manage daily collection, segregation, and windrow turning at the units. The compost produced is sold to the municipal nursery and to farmers in adjacent rural blocks at a subsidised price, generating revenue that partially covers the units' operating costs.
"Urban solid waste management in smaller municipalities is chronically underfunded," said BITAN's Waste Management Programme Lead. "This model proves that decentralised infrastructure, operated by trained community workers with a clear revenue loop, can be both environmentally effective and financially sustainable."
ITC's CSR team worked alongside BITAN for six months in the design phase, drawing on ITC's experience with waste linkages in its supply chain. The unit structures are made from locally-sourced bamboo and reinforced with recycled plastic lumber, keeping construction costs below ₹1.2 lakh per unit. BITAN has already received enquiries from four other municipalities in South 24 Parganas district seeking to replicate the model.
Community acceptance has been a standout feature of the roll-out. BITAN's community facilitators ran a ward-level orientation campaign for three months before the units opened, resulting in a household waste segregation rate of 78% — well above the national municipal average. The programme is being documented as a case study for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Swachh Bharat Mission urban guidelines.