On-site composting at Amarnath Yatra 2025 using composting bags would be a crucial step towards a more sustainable pilgrimage, complementing existing waste management efforts. Pilgrims would be educated and encouraged to segregate their wet organic waste, such as food scraps from langars and personal consumption, into specially provided certified compostable bags at designated collection points along the arduous routes and within the various base camps. These robust bags, designed to break down in composting environments, would contain the organic matter, minimizing litter and facilitating transport. Periodically, these filled bags would be collected and transported to strategically located, possibly centralized, composting pits or facilities within the Yatra area or at the base camps, where conditions (temperature, moisture, and aeration, potentially augmented with microbial inoculants) could be managed to accelerate decomposition, despite the high-altitude challenges. This approach would significantly reduce the volume of waste needing to be transported out of the ecologically sensitive region, minimize landfill burden, and potentially yield valuable compost for local land enrichment, embodying a true “waste to wonder” initiative.
