LLC Article 19–25 years old: Honourable Mention
GREEN SOLE: DONATING A WALK (India)
HOW AN ENVIRONMENT CONSCIOUS PERSON SIGNIFICANTLY CONTRIBUTES TO REDUCING GROWING LANDFILLS: A JOURNEY FROM LITTERING LESS TO LITTER-LESS
“There is no such thing as ‘away’, when we throw anything it must go somewhere.” — Annie Leonard
Such simple words speak volumes about how deeply the problem of littering is woven into our everyday lives, and it doesn’t spare even the environmental activists. Humankind currently produces around two billion tonnes of waste per year, with almost 1.3 billion tonnes of waste piling up in landfills leading to all kinds of pollution and innumerable diseases to those of the lower socio-economic groups who dig up these mammoth stinky mountains to find items that they can sell to be recycled.
These statistics come after all the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” propagandas, tremendous waste segregation strategies by various governments, charities that donate left-overs of events and effective waste to energy conversion plants seen in Sweden, Japan and China where only 1%-4% of total waste is sent to landfills while the rest is either recycled or converted into energy for residential and commercial use.
As we Indians always say, the early lifestyle carried on by our ancestors was the healthiest, I wondered if this problem of excess litter production had some age-old solutions. I stumbled upon some people who wrote blogs about the “Zero Waste Lifestyle” they were trying to achieve. Practicing the art of living before the industrial revolution happened -just like the good old days.
Zero waste lifestyle is where you consciously make efforts to reduce the trash that goes to the landfills — some of the zero waste “stars” have merely produced 2kg of waste in a year and against the 730kg of waste an average person produces per year! The mantra of conquering this lifestyle is based on the 5 ‘R’s — Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.
These enthusiasts usually make their own soaps, shampoos, lotions, toothpastes, make up products to do away with the plastic packaging, they only buy those things that can be recycled or composted- in a pit or electronic composting. They stack their grains, sugar/salt, other essentials in glass jars that they take How to start a zero-waste lifestyle? (Self-drawn illustration) along with them to Whole food stores to refill, buy those vegetables and fruits which don’t have the small stickers on them and Reuse and upcycle almost everything they own. It is important to realise it is a slow process, it cannot and should not happen overnight. Finish all the products you own, throwing them unused is just creating more waste, dig up your trash cans and analyse what produces the most garbage and consciously prioritise.
There are various sites like www.packagefreeshop.com that try and provide 100% biodegradable or recyclable products ranging from bamboo toothbrushes to essential oils, hand-made soaps, organic sanitary pads and panty liners — all reaching your doorsteps in upcycled and plastic free packaging. ‘Terracycle’ provides recycling solutions for recycling your tube lights, metal wares, old rags etc., they also have a service called “Loop” that lets you refill your everyday essentials from trusted brands without buying newly packaged products.
I look around my room and I see so many things that would end up in garbage sooner or later — my hairband, spectacles, phone charging cable, the packaging for my kiwis, my suitcase, toothbrush, car, sanitary napkins and so on. However, my largest contributor to garbage would be my cupboard filled with clothes and footwear!
When we think of waste, we often envision things like crushed up plastic water bottles, soiled food wrappers and dirty diapers — not a perfectly wearable pair of jeans that got thrown away just because they don’t fit anymore or your favourite slippers because of wear and tear.
Textiles make up 5% of all landfills in the US as only 15% of unwanted clothing is actually recycled. The average person throws away an estimated 30 kgs worth of textile waste annually. Each pair of shoe requires 2,257 gallons of water to be manufactured and around 78 million tonnes of shoes are thrown away each year, globally and each take about 40 years to decompose.
So, what can be done with clothes? Apart from donating to the needy, purchasing second-hand clothes from thrift shops and upcycling them to be used as cleaning cloths like our mothers do, there happen to be interesting solutions too.
‘Patch over patch, Surat’ uses post production waste that is knit by local ladies to make upcycled clothes.
‘Real state’ is an Indian company that uses the metals used on dresses to make ornaments.
‘Project Swavlambi’ is a non-profit organisation that works with women of local communities in Gujarat to create multifunctional bags and accessories out of fabric waste, and empower women by providing soft skills training like speaking English, health and hygiene guidance and financial management knowledge.
‘KaSha’ is a Pune-based upcycling label that makes jackets using waste plastic to skirts hemmed with boarders of old Banarasi sarees that can be worn reversibly too. And the list does go on.
When it comes to shoes, there is an organisation called ‘Green Sole’ based in Mumbai that rips apart all parts of the footwear, from its sole to the laces, cleans and uses it to make trendy shoes, chappals, bags, and keychains. The profits earned from selling these upcycled products is used to donate footwear to the 1.5 billion people affected by diseases transmitted through bare feet. They’ve given away 1.5 lakh chappals up until 2019. Big brands like Nike too accept old shoes for recycling in return for discounts on new purchase from their stores.
1. Don’t let clothing apparels reach the landfills (@SMARTTextile — Twitter) 2. & 3. Upcycled products from textiles by ‘Chindi’, Mumbai. (www.lbb.in)
What we have to realise is that littering does not simply mean not throwing waste in the water bodies or roads but is an umbrella term for all the waste we toss in the garbage cans just because it was not convenient to recycle or upcycle them or just wanted to the follow the fast fashion trends. They say the most environmentally friendly product is the one that you didn’t buy.
Not a single day goes by when our actions create no impact — the journey from littering less to a “litter-less” lifestyle is ours to attain.
