This is a Green Trails Report by Indiahikes for the months of June to August 2023. This is an internal report written by Sharwari Brahme, the head of Green Trails at Indiahikes. It has been published without edits. 

 I would like to share with all of you the updates and wins for the month of August 2023. Along with this, as we all know, we are nearing the transition from Monsoon to autumn. I have also put our waste targets for Green Trails going forward.

This is a Green Trails Report by Indiahikes for the months of June to August 2023. This is an internal report written by Sharwari Brahme, the head of Green Trails at Indiahikes. It has been published without edits for trekker consumption. 

Latest News

We have been looking for waste collaborators for the longest time in Bengaluru, Himachal, and Kashmir. I have good news for all of you. We have finally found the waste facilities in these places which are very close to our base camp.
- Manali: Krich Organization
- Kashmir: A recycling unit near Srinagar and Aru for all our Recyclable and tetrapack waste. We have already sent our recyclable waste from Srinagar.
- Bengaluru: Wasted 360 solutions for all the waste from our Bengaluru trek clean-ups. 

Starting this Friday, in every Friday meeting, we will be screening a film related to Sustainability.

We also had a Waste drive at our Bengaluru office for e-waste, soft plastics, and recyclables. Around 50 kg of waste was deposited by the team, and all of it was taken to Wasted 360 Solutions.

Internships

Ankit and Satvik have been working in Manali to manage the G6 practices and waste management at the Manali Jungle Line campus. They have deposited a total of 2,213 kg of segregated waste with our waste collaborator, Krich, in Manali.

Lucas is in Kashmir. In the past month, he has done extensive green sweeps at the KGL trek (twice). He is also taking care of the waste movement and management of the Kashmir Slope.

We have one more intern joining us in September; her name is Nagalambika. She will finish her induction in Bengaluru and then move to the slopes.

Internal training sessions

The GT interns, Satvik and Ankit, finished their training on the G6 setup. The aim of this training was to help them understand what the ideal setup of G6 practices looks like on our campsites. To teach them how G6 practices can be applied to delivering an experience. The training was conducted by our staff members, Mansingh and Shachi.

While the training helped the trainees, it also helped the trainers. The training has really helped Mansingh and Shachi brush up their skills. It was a good learning opportunity for them. 

Last weekend, our team conducted a Green Trails training session at Karchhi village, which is the base for the Valley of Flowers and Kuari Pass treks. This training was designed for our cooks and helpers. They play a key role in ensuring our kitchens become more and more sustainable. The training covered why being sustainable in the mountains is important. It also covered how to communicate the impact of sustainability with our trekkers. As the sessions progressed, the training became a platform for deeper discussions. In these discussions, our staff shared concerns about waste management at certain campsites. And the team came together to chalk out steps to address it in the coming season. These trainings will be a regular practice going forward. 

Recognizing sustainability champions

This time, I'd like to recognise a few people for their exceptional work: 

Amit Gupta for finding the Waste deposition facility in Srinagar.

Shwetha and Kavinaya for conducting the staff training at Karchi Campus.

Team Manali for the massive clean-up drive at Hampta Pass. On collection of 900 kgs and pushing for their massive waste target.

Waste Logs

Below is the Green Trails report for all the slopes for the month of June-Aug 2023. Congratulations to all the winners. An amazing job was done by all the slopes for cleaning such large quantities of waste. A special congratulations to Team Manali for the extensive Hampta Pass clean-up drive. Amazing efforts. Kudos to the entire team!!

The targets achieved by the teams in terms of their waste collection:

Great work by all the teams in pushing forward with consistent efforts for all the targets. 

Targets for next season

Let me take this opportunity to announce the Waste collection Targets for September & October 2023.

That brings me to the end of this report. All the best for the upcoming season everyone!! Let's leave the mountains better than we found them. :)

A Green Trails report of all the waste collected and deposited across Indiahikes treks

Indiahikes Green Trails Report June-August 2023

Indiahikes Green Trails Report: June–August 2023

Have you ever wondered what happens to your poop when you go trekking in the mountains? I’m sure that’s the last question to pop in your mind while planning a trek, but we at Indiahikes have given it some serious thought. Serious enough to write a blog piece on it. 

After countless experiments on our varied expeditions in the hills, we think we’ve finally figured out the most effective and sustainable solution to handling poop at high altitudes. If I were to give it to you in one word – it’s Composting. 

Yes, the same old concept you first read about in your science textbooks in middle school. But don’t worry, this one has nothing to do with earthworms 🙂 In fact, by the end of this article, you’ll have developed enough understanding as to how to provide the right conditions for composting. And I’ll also sneak in a few tips to speed up the process for you. So without further ado let’s get to business. 

➤ How Exactly is Composting Carried Out?

 To compost poop, all you really need is a hole in the ground. If you’re trekking alone or with a couple of friends, carry a shovel. Use it to dig a pit about 1 foot deep, then squat over and do your business. Once you’re done, use the same mud you pulled out to cover the hole. 

This technique is called the cat pit system and is simple enough when trekking with little to no company. 

When moving in a large group, however, of let’s say 15-20 people, you can’t go around asking everyone to dig their own holes each day. You require a bigger and more efficient system. This is where we at Indiahikes use the dry composting toilet pit. It’s basically a deeper version of the cat pit system in the sense that it often covers a depth of 4 feet or more. 

The compost pit is where the magic happens. The entire process of decomposition is carried out by microbes – microscopic organisms naturally present in the soil – which help break down the organic matter of the poop. 

And like any other living organism on our planet, they require their own set of suitable conditions which help them thrive. 

➤ 4 Things Absolutely Critical for the Microbes to Survive:

Our tiny friends require a balanced diet that’s rich in both nitrogen and carbon, ideally in the ratio of 1:2 respectively. While nitrogen is sufficiently present in your poop to help the microbes kickstart the composting, carbon on the other hand needs to come from an external source. 

At Indiahikes, we usually prefer carrying sacks of mud or cocopeat/sawdust (both rich sources of carbon) on our treks which we place near our compost pit for trekkers to use while finishing up. One other essential source of carbon you can add further is the soiled toilet papers you’d have used, which you can add in the pit along with the cocopeat. 

Please be mindful that the toilet paper you bring along on the trek isn’t bleached or laden with any chemicals as this’ll kill the microbes. That’s the reason why we also strongly discourage bringing wet wipes along on our treks. 

Your body ensures that the microbes get enough water to play their part in the composting process. This is where your poop and pee come in handy in keeping the compost system hydrated. It’s also the reason why this entire method is called the “DRY” compost pit as you don’t need any extra water from outside. 

Microbes require oxygen to perform the aerobic decomposition of matter. Having a pit in the ground allows for natural aeration and enables the pit to ‘breathe’ well. 

The final thing that these organisms need is shelter, in particular, the right temperature to do their work. This is a hard task as you’re in the mountains, but you are helped to some extent by the fact that the temperatures underground are warmer than land. Besides, make sure to keep the pit in a location that gets direct sunlight during the day.  This provides the microbes with an ambient temperature to carry on the process. 

➤ What Happens to the Compost Pit after Your Trek?

If you follow our instructions and tips mentioned above to the letter, it’ll take about 6 to 8 months for your poop to completely decompose into organic manure. This inspired us at Indiahikes to actually go back to our same spots once our trek season is finished, after about 8 months to check on the toilet pits. You can therefore take our word when we say that these dry compost pits are a great way of converting poop into nitrogen-rich manure. 

To know more about the process, or if you have any queries regarding it, feel free to write to me at neha@indiahikes.com or drop in a comment below. If you found this piece insightful, do remember to share it with your fellow trekkers. 

What Happens to your Poop in the Mountains

For a long time now, there’s been a lot of hue and cry about the idea of fixed camps — the idea of camping at the same location for a longer period. I’ve been seeing other organisations targeting Indiahikes, posting pictures of our campsites, maligning our Green Trails work — all in the name of fixed camps. 

It has escalated to such an extent that the term “fixed camp” has almost become a bad word. It is now immediately associated with damage to the environment. It is considered inferior to “rolling camps” or “rotating camps” where organisations camp, pack up, leave and move to the next camp, until the next team comes. 

This idea baffles me to no end. When every ecologically evolved country of the world has adapted fixed camps as a norm, it surprises me that educated organisations in India are still debating the idea. 

What bothers me more is the lack of any logical backing in their argument. I don’t see numbers, I don’t see research. If there was any science behind it, Indiahikes would be the first to learn from it and adapt it. 

So today, after many months of deliberation, I’m going to address this topic, and go against every vehement proponent of “rolling camps” / “rotating camps.” I am going to debate you why fixed camp is infinitely better for the environment. 

I’m sharing our years of research and study on this topic. 

Important note: In this post, I’m not addressing solo trekkers or small groups of trekkers. This is meant for meant for organisations that have 3 or more groups a week, whether in the Himalayas or anywhere else in the world.

1. Fixed camping dramatically reduces the trample effect on trekking trails

This point requires a slightly deeper understanding of what “trample effect” means and why it matters.

When a trekking team of 15-20 members has to camp, it involves a whole lot of resources — tents, sleeping bags, safety equipment, snow equipment, toilet equipment, kitchen and dining equipment. Add to it food and provisions. All these have to be moved from one camp to another, usually on mules, occasionally with porters. This movement of people, equipment, provisions and mules causes something known as a “trample effect” on trails.  

This trampling of trails leaves behind an impact. It erodes away precious topsoil, which contains most of the ground’s nutrients and fertility. It bruises or shears off plants. It also compacts the soil, which doesn’t bode well for any greenery. 

 The effect is evident when you study the numbers. Consider this. 

For every team of 25 (including staff members), our gear weighs around 600 kilos for a 4-day trek. This is loaded onto mules. For a load of 600 kg, we usually have 12 mules on the trail, each carrying roughly 50 kg. 

While this doesn’t seem like much weight, here are the numbers that matter. 

Each mule, on its own, weighs around 350 kg. This is the lower average. With another 50 kilos of load, each 400 kg mule heads out on trails. 12 such mules of 400 kg walk one after the other with metal hooves on trails. 

While even humans have a small trample effect, it isn’t as heavy as a pack animal. You can read more about it in this research paper (point 6).  

So when you’re constantly pitching camps and moving to the next, taking all the equipment with you, you’re taking 12 mules of 400 kg each time, trampling trails again and again. 

Additionally, mules also consume vegetation from the trail as fodder. They eat grass, flowers and vegetation they need to stay alive. This can be quite a bit, when you consider 12 mules doing it day after day. 

When you fix a camp at a certain location, the tents, sleeping bags, toilet equipment, all the heavy equipment is taken care of. It reduces the number of mules dramatically, since all that is left to transport now is offloaded backpacks and food replenishments. The amount of weight we carry comes down to a maximum of 150 kg. This is usually managed with just three mules. 

Fixing camps reduces the trample effect by 75%. This is an incomparable benefit to the environment.

2. Fixed camps cause LESS damage to the ground than rotating camps

Many people have this contention that we camp at the same place for weeks together, damaging the ground on which we are camping. Especially the ground below and around the tents.

There is a big misconception here, which I’d like to clear out. 

There is research and scientific evidence that most of the damage on a campsite happens when you first of the damage on a campsite happens when you first pitch camp. Once pitched, the damage is much lesser as you continue to stay there. (Read research paper here)

The logic behind it is straightforward. 

When you first arrive at a campsite and pitch tents, it damages the growth under the tent. Plants/grasslands get damaged, the soil gets compacted. The impact is the maximum when you first put a tent. Over the next few days, the extent of damage on the same spot reduces. 

When you’re moving camps regularly, you pitch camps again and again, in different spots, causing damage to more surface area. The constant movement impacts the ground a lot more than staying stationed at a camp.

Side note: Many trekkers worry about camping in meadows and that it does damage to meadows. Studies have shown that meadows and grasslands, in general, are a lot more resilient and grow back easily compared to forest land (Read research paper here, Page 1). This is true from our observations too. Every time we return to the meadows to camp, there is no sign of our previous camps there. To classify fixed camps as causing “permanent damage” is a gross misrepresentation.

This is a basic understanding that the whole world works with. Trek in Nepal, trek in New Zealand, trek in Switzerland, Italy, France or Austria. You will see that there are designated campsites for a reason — to limit the impact of camping to a small area, rather than spread out. 

The biggest difference between most of these countries and India is that they have progressed towards permanent fixtures at campsites, like mountain huts, yurt camps and tea houses, which is why nobody debates them. Indian trekking is yet to develop to such an extent, where we can have permanent infrastructure on remote trails.

3. Toilets are better managed with fixed camps

Here’s another grossly misunderstood topic. Most organisations are constantly harping on about deep toilet pits causing damage to the environment. Yet, at the same time, the same trekkers are surprisingly impressed by toilet setups on international trails like Kilimanjaro and Mt Fuji.  

The only difference between the international toilets and the Indiahikes toilets are the infrastructure. They have concrete / wooden structures. We have tents. Underground, they are both the same. They are deep pits dug into the earth, their depth and size proportionate to the number of people and duration of use. 

By far, in high-altitude trekking all over the world, this is accepted as the most environmentally viable concept. In fact, I’d say at Indiahikes we’re a step ahead, because we always use accelerators that aid decomposition (like cocopeat or sawdust), something other countries don’t do. 

There are obvious benefits of deep toilet pits, compared to setting up shallow toilet pits with every campsite setup. 

 Deep pits protect the topsoil from permanent damage, and if managed well, can make the soil richer. With multiple shallow pits, the amount of topsoil removed is significantly high. However, with 2 deep pit bio toilets, we are looking at just 18 sq ft of topsoil being removed per pit.

 Deeper pit = faster decomposition. Shallow pit = slower decomposition. The process of composting benefits from a lot of heat. The larger the pit, the more the heat is retained, speeding up decomposition. With shallow pits, heat escapes within days, slowing down decomposition. 

 Deep pits protect over 80% of the campsite area from spread of human waste. When you have a fixed camp, your toilet pit requirements are limited to 2-3 deep toilet pits for the season. These are 3x3x3 in size. This way, the human waste is contained in one area. 

When you’re moving camps, you’re constantly digging shallow toilet pits for each day, increasing the number of pits at each camp exponentially, in reality around 900 toilet pits at each campsite!

 Deep toilet pits protect water sources. When you continuously dig multiple shallow pits for toilets, the more spread out human waste is going to be, going as far as the banks of streams and lakes. 

On the other hand, deep pit bio-toilets help in containing human waste to a specifically designated area. At Indiahikes, we ensure that our pits are as far as possible from the water sources.

Deep pit bio-toilets are reusable: A big benefit of a deep toilet pit is its reusability. In all our camps, we use our toilet pits in the same place, again and again, every year. 

With shallow pits, we suffer from incomplete decomposition. This makes it difficult to reuse the pits again. It creates an unnecessary need to dig out more and more shallow pits, causing long-term damage to the environment over many years. 

To read our whole article about why deep pits are more sustainable for human waste management at high altitudes, click here.

4. Fixed camps ensure less wear and tear of camping equipment, thereby reducing environmental impact

Here’s an indirect impact on the environment that not many people realise. When you’re constantly rotating camps, you’re constantly packing, unpacking and transporting your equipment. More damage is done to the equipment during these three actions than anything else. They tend to tear, the poles tend to bend or break, and pegs get damaged. 

But the damage is not the concern. There’s a larger impact on the environment. 

“Every piece of equipment has its own life cycle. It has its own carbon footprint, water footprint, ecological footprint. The more you reduce the lifespan of a product, you have underutilized the resources you have used. The more you’re wearing and tearing, the more waste you’re generating,” says Lakshmi Selvakumaran, head of Learning and Development at Indiahikes. 

“Furthermore, sports equipment is often made from polymer materials with waterproof coating. They are very very hard to recycle. On the opposite end, they are also very hard to manufacture. Chemical science is complex, the process is laborious. It requires high-end manufacturing equipment and energy. When we shorten the life-cycle of equipment, we are using more resources, leaving behind a large environmental impact,” she adds. 

Organisations like Patagonia have dedicated their entire vision towards making sports equipment more sustainable. That is the only way forward if we want trekking to grow in India. And fixed camping allows you to do that. 

When you fix camps, you pitch camps only one in several times compared to rotating camps. It goes a long way in prolonging the life cycle of the equipment, a practice that makes trekking more sustainable.

5. Fixed camps allow you to focus better the camp environment, beyond the nitty-gritties of plain camping

When our team members are stationed at one place, the “setting-up” is a one-time process. Once that is done, the only goal for them is to make the experience better and better. This is something we have a razor-sharp focus on at Indiahikes. 

This is not possible with rotating camps. We have observed that most organisations don’t involve trekkers in the campsite set-up either. It is usually staff members involved in campsite management, pitching tents, washing utensils, setting up small pits for toilets. The very next day, they hurriedly pack up, close toilet pits shabbily, leave trash behind. This is something we observe on almost all trails.  

When you fix camps, you focus on the right things — It’s like your campsite is your home. You maintain it, you host people, you treat them well and involve them in everything. Much like in your home, you try to become more and more sustainable and self-sufficient, leaving the place better than it was. 

Trekking is growing in India. Within Indiahikes alone we are seeing a tremendous increase in the number of trekkers every year. This is the case across almost all trekking organisations in the country. 

When this is the case, fixed camping is the only way forward. It reduces the amount of energy utilized, the impact on the camping grounds and the wear and tear of equipment. It aids better human waste and campsite management. It is better for the environment. 

There is ample research on this topic and enough live examples around the world to show us that it works. 

While it has become somewhat fashionable to berate fixed camping, logical and scientific evidence point to a different picture. 

I hope other organisations, the government and all other stakeholders in the Indian trekking industry take note and understand the goodness of fixed camps.

Why Fixed Camps Are Better For The Environment

fixed camps, rotating camps, deep pit toilets

Why Fixed Camps Are Better For The Environment 

Of late, many questions are being raised about what is a sound toilet system at high-altitude campsites on popular treks.

On the one hand, we have multiple organizations digging up one shallow toilet pit daily at each campsite. 

On the other hand, we have our human waste management system — 1-2 deep toilet pits at each campsite for the whole season. It’s what we follow across all slopes, on all our treks, at all campsites between 8,000 and 13,000 ft. 

Many officials, and local authorities have questioned this practice. Our tents and stoves have been confiscated. Defamatory videos have been posted sharing false information, calls to ban Indiahikes, and our teams on the slopes have been threatened. 

Yet, we firmly hold our ground about our human waste management system at high altitude camps — 1-2 large deep pits that last easily for 25 groups. These toilets are the only way forward to trek sustainably and protect the environment. 

In this post, we’d like to clarify why deeper pit systems are better for the environment and why they are followed worldwide. 

Why Deep-Pit Bio Toilets are Better for Human Waste Management at High Altitude Camps

When Indiahikes started, our human waste management system on treks was rudimentary. It was manageable since there weren’t too many trekkers. 

We started with trekkers digging individual cat holes and covering them after use. When the number of trekkers grew, we dug shallow pits that were about 1.5 ft deep and ¾ ft wide and 1 ft long. Before moving from the campsite, these pits were closed. 

But over time, we noticed a huge problem. More and more organizations were trekking. Each organization was also following this model of human waste management. Within a span of a week, each campsite had about 50 pits.  

We realized that trekking in India cannot grow this way (Read the story of how our toilets evolved). 

For everyone to trek without damaging the environment, we needed to find a more efficient way of managing toilets on a trek. 

We needed toilets big enough to last the entire trekking season. 

We needed toilets capable of degrading human waste within a span of 3-4 months. 

We studied what was done in high altitude and cold climate zones across the world — European countries, Alaska, even the North and South Poles. Closer home, we studied what happened at Ladakh and Spiti. 

We noticed that the most environmentally evolved countries use deep pit systems, for obvious benefits towards the environment. 

Over time, we switched to these deep pit bio toilets in Uttarakhand and Himachal and more recently, in Jammu & Kashmir.

Here’s what we observed to be the benefits of deep pit toilets.

Benefit 1: Deep pits protect over 80% of the campsite area from spread of human waste

We’d like to give you some numbers here. 

On any popular Himalayan trek, we have seen over 200-250 trekkers in a day on the trail, trekking with multiple organizations. For extremely popular treks like Kashmir Great Lakes and Kedarkantha, the number is a lot higher. 

Each day, around 15 shallow toilet pits are dug at EACH campsite by other organizations. Over two months, that’s 900 TOILET PITS at each campsite. 

We have seen that these pits are not used properly. They are often not closed properly. They are not covered with mud. They have toilet paper and everything else out in the open. Every ten steps you take, you step in a toilet pit. 

The impact of 900 toilet pits at each campsite at the end of the season is enormous. 

This is where deep toilet pits make better sense for the environment. 

With deep pit bio toilets, you need just 1-2 pits per campsite easily for 25 groups. The dimensions we use for these toilets are 3 ft long, 3 ft wide and 4 ft in depth. From our studies, these pits are efficient enough to handle the human waste of over 25 groups of trekkers. That’s around 625 trekkers. 

This limits the presence of human waste to one known area of the campsite. Consequently, it protects around 80% of the campsite area from being dug out for use as toilet pits. 

If every organization can dedicate 2 deep toilet pits to themselves, it would be an efficient human waste management system to protect the environment. 

Better yet, if there could be 3-4 well-maintained deep toilet pits for the entire campsite, for use by all organizations, that would be the best way forward for the environment. But maintenance is key here, which requires dedicated infrastructure, people and systems in remote areas of the Himalayas. Until this is possible, each organization must maintain their own deep pits. 

Although the biggest and the most obvious benefit of such a toilet is the reduction in the number of toilet pits being generated, there are countless other benefits towards the environment that must be considered. 

Benefit 2: Deeper pit = faster decomposition. Shallow pit = slower decomposition.

The process of composting benefits from a lot of heat. Composting is both an exothermic and endothermic process. Endothermic because the rate of composting is directly correlated to the temperature inside the pit. Second, the composting process also produces a lot of heat which is essential to kill the harmful bacteria that is present inside the compost. 

A typical compost pit goes from 25 deg C till 80 deg C and back within the span of the composting process.

However, on our mountain trails, the ambient temperature falls heavily at night, sometimes even in the negative degrees.  A simple solution to trap and retain the heat within the compost pit is to dig deep pits. It does not let the ambient temperature affect the composting process.  

In our experience, the bigger size of the pit, in addition to use of cocopeat / sawdust as a carbon element has helped decompose human waste within a span of 3 months.

Benefit 3: Deep pits protect the topsoil from permanent damage, and if managed well, can make the soil richer

The most precious layer of the soil in an ecosystem is the topsoil. With multiple shallow pits, the amount of topsoil removed is significantly higher than the amount of topsoil lost while digging deep pit toilets. This becomes evident with a simple calculation.  

For 45 groups with approximately 25 trekkers in each group, we need 135 shallow pits. 

Calculating the surface area of the top soil removed, this equates to about 200 sq ft of topsoil lost (Each shallow pit is around ¾ ft wide and 1 ft long).

However, with 2 deep pit bio toilets, we are looking at just 18 sq ft of topsoil being removed per pit. This protects a huge area of topsoil, which contains all the nutrients needed for grasslands to thrive. 

At Indiahikes, we dig 1-2 deep toilet pits at each campsite. We use this for two months, throughout the season. We use cocopeat / sawdust to bring in carbon to help decomposition. 

We cover the pits spending almost an entire day to ensure the process is followed properly. Within 3-4 months, this human waste decomposes and there’s fresh grass growing on top. Because of the way we use our pits, the soil is RICHER after decomposition, leaving the earth with well-balanced, nutritious manure. 

Benefit 4: Deep toilet pits protect water sources

Let’s talk about contamination of water sources. 

Everyone knows that campsites have to be around water sources. The moment you continuously dig multiple shallow pits for toilets, the more spread out human waste is going to be. We have seen toilet pits go as far as the banks of streams and lakes, contaminating water sources almost immediately. 

On the other hand, deep pit bio toilets help in containing human waste to a specifically designated area. At Indiahikes, we ensure that our pits are as far as possible from the water sources.

From our studies, ideally, the toilets must be at least 150 ft away from any water source.  With a landmine of shallow pits, this becomes an impossibility to maintain in a public campsite. 

Added to this, the deep pits degrade human waste more efficiently, which again neutralizes the threat of the pathogens in human waste from entering water sources. 

Benefit 5: Deep pit bio toilets are reusable

A big benefit of a deep toilet pit is its reusability. In all our camps, we use our toilet pits in the same place again and again every year. This has again helped contain the human waste management to a singular location within the campsite, creating a safe place for everyone to camp and enjoy the outdoors peacefully. 

With shallow pits, we suffer from incomplete decomposition, problems with wet wipes and toilet papers spread throughout the campsite.  This makes it difficult to reuse the pits again. It creates an unnecessary need to dig out more and more shallow pits, causing long term damage to the environment over many years. 

Indian trekking is growing every year. Trekkers are trekking on their own. Organisations are cropping up on many scales. 

At Indiahikes, we firmly believe that everyone must trek. It’s a sport that brings about a lot of good in people’s lives. But the stark reality of the trekking world today is that we cannot grow trekking without solving fundamental problems like waste management at high altitudes. 

At the end of the day, we need innovative solutions like deep pit bio toilets to effectively manage human waste and create more capacity for more people to trek sustainably. 

These scientific solutions must be accepted and encouraged. In fact, for trekking to be done responsibly, these innovative solutions must be made the norm of how trekking is done in India. 

In this post, we clarify why deep pit systems are the best human waste management systems on Himalayan treks and why they are followed world-wide.

Why Deep Bio Toilet Pits Are Ideal For Human Waste Management on Himalayan Treks

Stemming from our Green Trails practices, all of us at Indiahikes have been managing our organic waste in our homes. We compost our wet waste, producing beautiful manure every few months. We would like trekkers to be a part of this rewarding journey too.

We requested the team at Daily Dump to give our trekkers a quick look into composting. Daily Dump’s name stands out when it comes to composters in India. Given their vision to change people’s mindsets about waste, we resonate closely with the work they do.

This is a guide created by them. Read to get an understanding of how to get started on your composting journey.

By the end of the article, if you would like to start composting, use the discount code specially made for Indiahikes trekkers. You’ll find it at the end of this article.

Dive into an exciting journey with your kitchen waste!

Imagine if leftovers on your plate can also help you grow more vegetables?

From the occurrence of rain and the formation of soil, to even life, death, and regeneration – cycles are an integral part of our universe. As much as we live in the times of instant gratifications and immediate consumption, everything — and yes EVERYTHING — is either converted into food (in some form) or poison for our planet.

This simple truth has profound consequences.

It means we need to consider not only what we consume, but the by-products and remains of those items. Like one truly understands on a hiking trail — packaged mineral water is more about the ‘packaged’ and less about the ‘mineral water’.

So it’s not just about the ‘processed natural’ water but the fact that one more plastic bottle has been added to our planet’s heap of trash.

Organic waste, however, presents far lesser complexities. Nature itself has given us priceless lessons on how ‘waste’ is actually a golden resource. 

Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that enriches soil. It is a process of recycling your kitchen and garden waste, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal.

Composting is not a new idea. In the natural world, composting is what happens as leaves pile up on the forest floor and decay. Eventually, nutrients from the rotting leaves are reclaimed by living roots. This completes nature’s recycling process.

And what’s more? You can easily compost from the comfort of your own space with 

 for families of all sizes with the help of Daily Dump’s award-winning range of composters. 

Organic waste is technically biodegradable but when we send mixed waste out of our homes, they collect in landfills. Our biodegradable waste mixes with toxins, chemicals, and other pollutants to create poisonous substances that mix with our local water bodies or enter the groundwater table.

This water is used by us in a variety of ways, including watering our crops and cleaning the very food we eat.

Segregation makes sense at home – and everywhere!

So by throwing out a mango peel this summer, we are, in a way, ensuring that the mangoes we look forward to next summer will have more toxicity than juiciness. 

2. It gives essential nutrition for plants to help them grow better

3. It reduces the need for chemical fertilizers

4. It improves vitamin and mineral content in growing vegetables and fruits

5. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces global warming 

6. It makes you feel like a responsible, proactive part of our community, without too much effort, fuss, or too many resources.

We at Daily Dump provide a range of composters that will help you smoothly set sail on your composting journey. All you need is your daily kitchen waste, our signature Remix Powder to help you compost faster with no smell or fuss, and our composter of course! 

Here’s a fun video to help you get compost with ease.

Our flagship range of terracotta home composters are available across many cities of India like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Darjeeling, and Ahmedabad, with the help of our official retail partners.

Daily Dump’s range of food-grade recyclable plastic home composters are also easily shippable across the country. They are easy-to-lift & move while also being a durable material that allows for hassle-free, smell-free composting. 

Composting has a world of benefits and we at Daily Dump are on a mission to help our cities manage our organic waste (and thereby all our waste) better – making composting at home easier, faster, and smell-free! This replication of one of nature’s essential processes helps keep over 60,000 kg of organic waste out of landfills everyday.

We provide easy & effective composting solutions for households as well as for communities and organisations.  There are wonderful things you can do with compost, but quite naturally, there are also a lot of myths around this integral form of urban waste management. 

Won’t it smell? Will it take too much time? It surely must be expensive!

A pioneering organisation to educate people about composting and makers of high quality composters talk about the basics of composting.

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