BROWN LEAF

At Brown Leaf, we advise these 3 options for management of dry leaves. Options are mentioned in the order of their priority. MULCH COMPOST DONATE We advise people to practice mulching and composting. If composting is not possible for some reason, or there is surplus quantity of dry leaves, then there is the option of donation. Person who has dry leaves donates them to the person who wants them. MULCH In the forest, dry leaves fall to the ground during winter. Whole of summer, they remain on the ground, which reduces evaporation and helps retain soil moisture. In rainy season, these leaves decompose and returned to the soil, adding nutrients to it. COMPOST Fallen leaves contain 50-80% of the nutrients that trees extract from the soil during a growing season. When these leaves are thrown away or burnt, those nutrients lost by the soil are never returned to it. DONATE As there are people who have dry leaves, there are people who want dry leaves. People who have gardens/ terrace gardens are always in need of dry leaves. Availability and Requirement exists in the same city. The need is to connect the two. We have a whatsapp group where both leaf-donors and leaf-takers are present. The person who has dry leaves, collects them in gunny bags and drops a message on the group providing quantity and address. The person who wants dry leaves and for whom the mentioned area is convenient, responds and arranges for the pick-up. In 2017, the whole Brown leaf community prevented more than 5000 gunny bags of dry leaves from getting burnt.

No. The objective of Brown Leaf is to bring about a change in the attitude towards dry leaves. When a facility for pick-up and transportation is provided, the mentality that perceives dry leaves as waste does not change. Facility simply serves as a convenient way to “get rid of the waste”. If for some reason, leaves are not picked up as scheduled, people simply go back to burning the leaves because the mindset is not changed. At Brown Leaf, we attempt to change the perception and view dry leaves as “resource” and not “waste”. It is a lengthy process, but it is the only sustainable way going forward. At Brown Leaf, the very fact that somebody wants the dry leaves that are normally perceived as waste, helps change the attitude. When donors and takers communicate with each other, it results in exchange of ideas and knowledge. Many members, who initially joined as donors, now utilize their dry leaves for composting. Some societies, previous donors, have started compost project. Drawing inspiration from the expert gardeners in the group, have started gardening. Brown Leaf forum has turned in an active, vibrant community of people with the singular objective “Not a single dry leaf should be burnt in India”.

Theory does not bring about a change in the mindset. Just telling somebody dry leaves are valuable is not enough to convince them not to burn them. Hence, last season, from November 2016 to February 2017, 2 demo visits per month were conducted. They all were arranged to the places where dry leaves were being utilized in the heart of the city. Two visits to the terrace gardens.. one to vegetable cultivation plot and a household garden.. one to the society-level, revenue-generating dry leaf composting project Two demo visits cum donation drives to the hills where 2 voluntary organisations are working for greening of the hills..

Not at all. It started in Pune, but it is certainly not limited to Pune. I wish to spread the concept and replicate this model in all places in India, all places that face the challenge of dry leaves. Individuals from various cities have contacted me. We are currently working out the strategy to replicate this model all over India. Watch this space for more updates.

Brown Leaf whatsapp group was created for dry leaves exchange. Gradually the group became an active community, sharing ideas, exchanging knowledge. As the group interaction increased, it became difficult to keep track of the leaf exchange related messages. Hence the need was felt for a dedicated app for this purpose. Currently it is available for Pune city. More cities and towns will be added in the subsequent releases. Brown Leaf App is available for download on Google Play Store. Search for “brown Leaf” on Google Play Store. Here is how the app works… If you are a donor If you are a taker

Background:Through this project I will work with the municipal waste management personnel in my lane. Currently, due to insufficient human resource and infrastructure, dry leaves that get collected in the street in the lane daily, are either burnt or dumped somewhere. Last year I collected all these leaves daily from the municipal personnel and set up a compost project in my building premises. I could accommodate around 100 gunny bags of leaves in it. In July, I got a very good quality compost that I and other people are utilizing for the gardens. Pilot Project: With this experience and expertise at hand, I wish to carry out a pilot project on large scale this year. This project comprises of the following. 1. Set up 4 metal composters in the lane. 2. Deposit the dry leaves in the street in the lane daily in these composters. 3. Once a week, add water and "culture" to it which will provide bacteria to speed up the decomposition process and maintain required moisture. 4. At the end of 4 months, harvest the ready compost by inviting the local corporator to felicitate the municipal personnel working on ground, with the residents in the lane present. 5. Pack and sell the compost with earnings distributed to the municipal personnel who have worked. Sweeping the street is part of their job, but they would be felicitated because they are going extra mile in composting it when just dumping it somewhere would have been easy for them. Rationale for this pilot on the street-scale: Pune is a green city. Brown leaves is the other side of this greenery. From November to April, streets, societies are drowned in leaf litter. Municipal corporation has a system in place to pick up these dry leaves, but no system for its utilization. Hence these leaves are sent to the dump site. Also, infrastructural and human resource problems, collection of dry leaves too is not regular. Hence burning of dry leaves is rampant in the city. Dry leaves are not "waste", they are a "resource". Through Brown Leaf forum, I connect the people who have dry leaves with the people who want dry leaves. Yet, huge quantity of dry leaves poses a great challenge. With this pilot, I wish to demonstrate that A distributed model will be able to solve the problem. It will also be a good example of public participation with the local governing body. Instead of creating a parallel system, citizens can collaborate in the existing municipal process This is easily scalable model. Taking lane as the unit, it can be replicated in the entire Pune city and other cities as well.

Certainly. We have a whatsapp group of people who wish to start this initiative in their city/ town. Do write to pune.brownleaf@gmail.com, if you wish to be part of this group. Here are the steps you can do to start Brown Leaf in your city Drop me a message on whatsapp on 7350000385 with your details Create a whatsaap group Brown Leaf CityName and start adding like-minded people. Request them to bring in more like-minded people I will share a few documents, video clips to get people acquainted with the concept. I will add your city/ town in the app so that people can start exchanging dry leaves. Whatsapp group will serve as the forum for idea exchange, knowledge sharing and expansion of the concept.

I, Aditi Deodhar, started Brown Leaf in Pune in February 2016. Sight of burning leaves always bothered me. I decided to stop this practice in my building. We have a large tree in the building premises. I instructed the lady who sweeps the building premises, not to burn those leaves. Then one day she came to me and told me it is really a large heap now, what to do with it. I was clueless what to do with such a large heap of leaves. I realised, telling somebody not to burn leaves is not enough, we need to provide option. I started inquiring on various whatsapp groups. One lady, Sujata Naphade, replied to me. She cultivates vegetables for 3 families in a patch of land near her house. She said she can accommodate all the leaves from my tree in her plot. I collected leaves in gunny bags. She came in her car, took 5-6 gunny bags in first trip. I got curious. What is commonly perceived as waste, was wanted by somebody. And that person took trouble of driving all the way to collect it. I visited her plot to see what she does with dry leaves. What I saw was amazing. Her plot used to be a dumping site for construction debris and hence lacked necessary organic matter. She needed to create soil layer on all that concrete. Buying that quantity of soil is very expensive and not viable. She creates organic matter using dry leaves. She needs dry leaves in large quantity and did not know where to get them. Discussing this matter with other gardeners, I realised this was a challenge for many. In Pune city, there is a trend towards "grow Your Own Food". Many people are utilizing their terraces to cultivate vegetables, medicinal herbs and other plants. Not all of them have large trees that shed leaves. Getting dry leaves is a major problem for them. This was an eye-opener. There are people who have dry leaves and there are people who want dry leaves. Availability and requirement, both exist in the same city. Necessity is to connect the two. If they both connect, then this major problem is solved. I realised since we live in such a connected world, thanks to Internet, this can be achieved through an online forum. That is how I decided to create Brown Leaf website, facebook page and whatsapp group where people with availability and requirement can communicate and help each other.

1. Millennium School in Pune has developed a vegetable garden for its students using canteen waste and dry leaves. They cultivate all kinds of vegetables, fruits in this garden. An organisation nearby has a lot of leaf litter. I suggested them the model of partial compost and donation. Surplus leaf litter was collected by school from them and from a few other sources. The vegetable garden till now has utilized 20 tons of dry leaves which otherwise would have been burnt. Mulching is the process of crushing leaves and spreading in the plant bed. Because of this layer, soil retains moisture and water gets conserved. This vegetable garden has conserved around 80% of water due to dry leaf mulching. 2. A farmer cultivates organic vegetables using leaf mould. I got him connected with an institute and a few large societies that had surplus dry leaves. All that leaf litter he got helped him cultivate and harvest very healthy vegetables. He shared photographs with the whole Brown Leaf group further emphasizing usefulness of dry leaves. 3. An industry in Pune has 11 acres of campus with very large, old-growth trees. Initially they had asked me if they could donate. But after demo visit they decided to give composting a try. I helped them identify location and did initial hand-holding. Now their project is set. They have one more industry having around 75 acres campus in suburb. They now wish to replicate this model in that campus as well. 4. There are two groups, Vasundhara Abhiyaan and Vasundhara Swachhta Abhiyaan working for greening of hills in Baner, Pashan and Sus area of Pune. These hills are barren. Soil is eroded. Buying soil is very expensive. They use dry leaves to create organic matter. Dry leaves are also used for mulching for young plants. Since soil retains moisture, it increases chances of survival for the young plants, especially in summer months. Getting such a huge quantity of dry leaves is a challenge. I connected societies that had surplus leaves after composting with these groups. Hills received truckload of dry leaves which are helping plants survive.

Around November to March is the time when deciduous trees shed leaves. A large quantity of leaf litter is generated. Trees lose water through the leaves by the process of evapotranspiration. Leaf fall is the adaptation by trees to conserve water during summer months. Ground remains covered with these fallen leaves. They form a layer over the soil, protecting it from harsh sun during summer. Due to this, soil retains moisture. Various insects find shelter under these leaves. Around 50 to 70% of the nutrients that a tree absorbs are present in the fallen leaves. In the monsoon, leaves decompose, and nutrients are returned to the soil, thus completing the cycle. In urban setup, this natural, essential process has turned into a nightmare. In cities, majority of the soils are capped with buildings, roads, pavements etc. Even when open soil is available, heaps of leaf litter do not fit into our idea of aesthetics. There is just no scope for natural decomposition of leaf litter. Burning seems a convenient way to get rid of the leaf litter. Burning of dry leaves is banned in many countries. It leads to air pollution. It is a major health as well as fire hazard. The smoke contains several toxic particles and gases. Burning of dry leaves generates a large quantity of particulates that can reach deep in lung tissue and cause Coughing Wheezing Chest pain Shortness of breath Long-term respiratory problems For the people who suffer from asthma or other breathing disorder, leaf burning is extremely hazardous. Complete burning results in production of Carbon dioxide, while Carbon monoxide is released from incomplete burning, such as with smouldering leaf piles. Carbon monoxide is absorbed in blood where it reduces oxygen-carrying capacity of the Red Blood Cells (RBCs). It also is one of the greenhouse gases. Fallen leaves contain 50-80% of the nutrients that trees extract from the soil during a growing season. When we burn dry leaves, we not only create pollution but also destroy the valuable nutrients that should go back to the soil.