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Is it possible to eliminate from our lives a polymer called plastic, which came as a boon and now has become a bane by being an indispensable and indestructible part of our lives and causing harm to environment? Well, we can try.
Enter the ‘zero-waste’ lifestyle — a minimalist living in which you avoid plastic in daily use and find biodegradable alternatives for them.
Efforts are on at different levels — from household to community — to adopt and popularise zero-waste models. And the current crisis has catalysed such efforts.
One such initiative is Bengaluru-based Zero Waste start-up Green Mantra. Debyani Basu, the creative director at Green Mantra, says that she always encourages people to buy something only if it is essential and if they are convinced about the product.
“One must buy things that are durable and solid. When my mother gives me her old saris, they are very close to my heart. Such things help spread positivity. We need to reduce the habit of purchasing unnecessarily,” she says, pointing to big steel jars that Green Mantra uses to store grocery items at their store in Marathahalli.
What is interesting is that these jars belonged to the grandparents of Debyani’s colleague Shika Mittal, who is the quality director at the firm.
Anusha Balaji, a homemaker, describes how she shifted to using natural cleaners during the lockdown. Anusha says her family has moved to using natural ingredients, like shikakai, hibiscus powder and soapnut for cleaning purpose. She makes her own citrus bio-enzyme (dishwasher) by fermenting a mixture of citrus peels, jaggery and water for 30-45 days.
“We do this because it doesn’t pollute our water in the way other chemicals cleaners and soaps do and we also avoid throwing shampoo bottles and soap wrappers into our waste,” she says. Anusha also convinced and won over the biggest skeptic - the house help - who now helps her make the bio-enzymes. Her other point of pride is the “flourishing” garden, which is fed by home-made compost and watered by home-made bio-enzymes, that are used to clean floors and counter-tops.
The truth is that our lifestyle choices extract a cost from the environment. Just check how much your dry waste bin weighs right now.
The trick is to question yourself twice before you buy something: “Does it add value to my life?” and then proceed.
Green Mantra’s business development director Prachi Mandlekar, who also holds sustainability workshops, says that in 2015, an average person generated about 1.5 kg of waste every day.
Speaking about ‘sustainable menstruation’ she says, “Used sanitary napkins are not safe for environment too. We have made over 100 women switch to sustainable menstruation and use menstrual cups.”
For business analyst Nirma Sekar, it hasn’t been easy to weed out plastic from her life. What started as a realization about the harms of sanitary napkins in 2015, Nirma now embraces her lifestyle comfortably, from washing clothes in soapnut liquid (soapnut powder boiled in water and strained) and bio-enzymes, using menstrual cups, tooth powder instead of plastic-packaged toothpaste and a 90% zero-waste wedding of her cousin, whose cost came around Rs 5 lakh.
Sahar Mansoor is the founder of another zero waste product group Bare Necessities, that offers sustainable alternatives. Mansoor estimates that the 12,000 steel straws sold by the company resulted in the diversion of 9,000 kg of plastic straws from landfills. Ethically sourced raw materials and sustainable packaging are also important to embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle.
How viable is this movement in India? “I think there is growing awareness on issues around sustainability, waste reduction and more. The need and demand for such businesses will only grow,” says Sahar.