A HEALTHY DUSTBIN

 

These are the headlines we often come across, the topic we often rage about. What is the government doing? People are dying but the corporation is sleeping? India can never change, it’ll always remain the same?

By now, probably we all know what a garbage dump yard does to the city- air pollution, water contamination, leeching and the list goes on. The residents living near these landfills are the worst affected but are these the only ones affected? Certainly not.  

Yes! Somehow the government is miserably failing in managing this issue in our country, but so are we. What are we doing about it? Cribbing? Outraging? and criticizing? But is that enough? Are we helping? Are we doing our bit? The answer is probably a big NO. The waste that we generate is our responsibility and we are to blame as much as the government.

Through this article, I want to share the idea of managing our waste and making our dustbins “healthy”. The waste that goes down the garbage chute from our homes must only contain true waste i.e. the things that in no way can be utilised/ managed/ reused/ recycled by us at our homes. If only what truly belongs to the dustbin is dumped in one, the amount of waste that adds up in landfill will reduce significantly. Won’t that also be a solution to help the city and its solid waste management authorities? Let’s stop blaming, and let’s start helping.

If we closely look at the garbage bin of our homes, we can majorly divide our waste into three categories

Kitchen Waste

At least 15% of any fruit/ vegetable that we use in cooking, goes waste in the form of peels or seeds. Composting them is an obvious solution to this waste that we produce, but this comes with a lot of myths, apprehensions, and disagreements.

The first one being- Why would I have waste rotting in my apartment when I can simply throw it away, it is biodegradable anyways. A common myth that surrounds all of us– “Kitchen waste is biodegradable, and hence will breakdown in landfills”, NO, it will not. The environment of the landfills is not suitable for decomposing. High concentrations of methane prevent decomposition and the waste that could have become manure in no time will now be laying around forever.  

The second excuse we give ourselves to escape- its unhygienic, leads to foul smell and might cause diseases. If done properly, there is no foul smell and nothing unhygienic about decomposing. Doing it makes you a better inhabitant of the planet and saves you the cost of manure for your plants.

So it’s time you become a responsible citizen, and give a small corner of your balcony to a composting bin.

 

A few suggestions to learn and understand composting 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3rtPDwAIY

https://www.instagram.com/wormrani/channel/?hl=en

Containers

Plastic, tin, glass; Food delivery, ice cream, dish wash gel, floor cleaner, oil, and what not; all are packaged in some type of containers. These containers have a longer life than we think, and hence throwing them right away after using the products inside is not wise. REUSING them is the smart thing to do. Use them to store your stationery/ cosmetics/ spices or sow a seed; decorate them in your favourite colour, or play the expose game, do whatever you like just don’t throw them away.

Packaging

Someone wisely said, “everything in life comes with a price” and in today’s world that price is plastic packaging. The plastic sheets that are covered over everything we see at the supermarket, is not just impossible to reuse in our homes but also very difficult to recycle in the industries. We eat bread, plastic packaging; we drink milk, plastic packaging; we eat medicines, plastic packaging; we order books, plastic packaging. I can not think of one domain of life that does not choke on plastic packaging. The idea should hence be to REDUCE them as much as possible. One way to do this is to decrease our dependency on outsourcing our consumables. What can be made at home, should not be brought from outside. When purchasing unpacked things, instead of bringing them home in plastic bags, take your containers and cloth bags from home.

 

This is not an overnight change that will decrease waste to zero but an ongoing process that requires us to make conscious decisions. If we understand the burden we and our waste puts on the environment, and start finding solutions, the world will become a better place to live in. The small steps of today will certainly bring a big change tomorrow. Remember Waste can be Treasure too, it’s just how you decide to use it.

Happy Reusing everyone!!