The Daily Dump is a growing recycling business started by Poonam Bir Kasturi in Bangalore, India in 2006. In just four years, the Daily Dump has helped enable over 4,500 customers in Bangalore to compost household waste in terra cotta pots that are sold by the Daily Dump. For most of these customers it was probably their first foray into large-scale recycling, as 25-30 kilograms of organic waste each month reduces to 3 kilograms of compost, which can then be used as fertilizer. Poonam and her staff of about 10 call this method “agri-composting” which is a specifically urban solution. The company’s focus has now expanded to include city schools as customers, adding a critical educational aspect to the business.

The Daily Dump is a unique endeavor for several reasons. The company offers a woman-owned business model for other entrepreneurs interested in improving the environment and using ethical commercial practices. In addition, the Daily Dump has helped launch other “clones” who use the same or very similar pot design and composting methods. There are no patents, no royalties, no copyrights, trademarks, or intellectual property lawsuits, and the company does not profit off of the clones. Moreover, Kasturi and her team actively assist the fast followers by sharing technical specifications and advice at no cost. At this time there are 15 clones in India, one of which was established in Bangalore itself, and others in Chile, Brazil, and Florida.

Foreign Policy Digest is pleased to have conducted an interview with Ms. Kasturi on August 3rd 2010 as a follow-up to the interview with Marco Steinberg of the Helsinki Design Lab, which completed an extensive academic study of the Daily Dump. We would like to thank PR Collaborative for facilitating this interview, excerpted below.

“This [sustainability] consciousness will not be attained simply because the arguments for change are good or because the alternatives are unpleasant…The central lesson of realistic policy-making is that most individuals and organizations change when it is in their interest to change, either because they derive some benefit from changing or because they incur sanctions when they do not…”

These words were spoken by William Ruckelshaus, who served as the first head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Although climate change had just begun to creep into the public consciousness in the late 1980s when Ruckelshaus made these remarks, his comments reveal an important truth which presciently resonates in today’s global warming debate: governments can lead the country towards a more sustainable interaction between people and their environment but civil society is essential in realizing this profound change.

Foreign Policy Digest, through the gracious assistance of PR Collaborative, was granted an interview with Marco Steinberg, Director of Strategic Design at the Helsinki Design Lab. During our June 15 phone interview, Mr. Steinberg helped explain how strategic design is shaping how our governments deliver services in a leaner, more efficient way.