July 2020 – MAKE THE BEST OF THIS JOURNEY

I never checked the contents outside the home cleaning liquids I was using. It’s interesting to note that most of the branded chemical cleaners which we use in house doesn’t specify the quantity of each of the contents on label.

Some brands may be safe and taking safeguards as part of Sustainable Development Goals. That’s great. For rest, what we buy does it truly reflect the real cost- before and after. Real cost when we buy it but before we use it- in terms of the impact it has already had on people and planet and real cost after – on these chemicals going back in water bodies.

It’s not just about these cleaners but almost everything we consume. I have specifically mentioned cleaners here in context of waste reduction which can be done at individual level. Let me share my experience and help you understand BIO-ENZYME & how it can contribute to reduce waste.

Sizeable portion of the bin includes peels of fruits and vegetables which is processed in our houses to prepare meals. Some peels are not edible and rest we are mostly not used to consuming.

BIO-ENZYMES helps reduce the food waste in terms of the peels esp Citrus Fruits which can be converted to cleaners at home by doing one time simple step and 2 minutes of your time per week post that.

Two use

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Instead of composting, you can put the remains of fruits and vegetables which we don’t consume into one another level of use as bio enzyme before we compost it.

Save those peels going in bin and put them in any plastic container ( including soft drink bottles-reuse plastic waste as well) with water and jaggery in ratio of 3: 10 :1. Wait for 90 days with initial 30 seconds check everyday by opening the bottle cap to release the gas formation which happens in this mixture.

Race to ‘-1’ : Day 342.

Link to previous day at https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/20/rewind-week-2-and-3/

So do you have 2 minutes in a week to contribute to waste reduction ?

BETTER TOMORROW

Rewind : Week 2 and 3

July 20, 2020 preetymundhra

Before entering the fourth week of this journey to ‘-1’ , a quick recap of week 2 and week 3 :

rewind

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Day 357 : Different terminologies – common end objective. Which one do you follow- ZeroWaste | Environment |Sustainable | Minimalism.

Day 356 : First step towards better tomorrow is using resources optimally. Quick survey. In case you would like to share your thoughts the survey is still open https://forms.gle/kBNMyxiaRYXXkwdQ6

Day 355 : Survey results show 18% practice composting and 18% don’t practice zero waste at all.

Day 354: Trying find answer to why only 18% practice composting ?

Day 353: Linkage of Food waste and plastic waste. If the first one is understood, the second one is solved to some extent.

Day 352: Food story and the paradox : Hunger vs Food Waste.

Day 351 : Can we do something for those landfills filled with garbage. Yes its possible.

Day 350 : Landfills are a challenge but some cities in India found solution and made it work.

Day 349 : From Landfill, the leachate can travel to the water bodies; key reason for problem and the solution- segregation not being done and when done.

Day 348 : Different ways how we can manage the food waste and convert it to black gold.

Day 347 : DIY methods of doing composting at home and key composting terms simplified

Day 346 : Waste reduction Simplified tools with companies providing the required items.

Day 345 : Waste Management at society level-some success stories in Mumbai.

Day 344 : Waste Management at society- discussion and learnings.

Recap of week 1: https://preetymundhra.com/2020/06/13/race-to-1-day-358/

Saving tomorrow ( Part 3B of 3)

July 18, 2020July 18, 2020 preetymundhra

In my earlier post I had shared a few societies in Mumbai who have made the difference by getting into community composting. Last Sunday I got chance to listen directly from residents of one society which is actively doing it for almost two years.

This is about #Torino CHS, #Hiranandani Garden, Powai and thanks to NGO #Sahaas & #Kshitija Surve for arranging this awareness session. Sahaas helps societies in their journey to manage waste; this was taken up by them without any such relationship but more to understand how this society had managed it.

So for those who would like to actually implement it in their society, some learnings from that session:

It is possible to 100+ families on board even if the mix includes tenants.
Volunteering team with mix of different age groups esp Senior members and children is helpful in this journey along with support of housekeeping staff for daily operations and processing.
Clear categorization guidance is helpful to avoid mixing and also clarify different view points if any.
Different waste bins/ color coding for different type of Garbage.
Organic waste put up for composting within premises. No odour issues.
Other than biomedical waste, the balance is segregated and sold by housekeeping staff with proceeds allocated to them which ensures better monitoring.
Use of prepared compost as brown material for subsequent batches.
Process continues in current environment as well as weather.

Along with the bigger impact which each society can create with this on waste management, sustainability and environment; it also has small perk of rebate on property tax after meeting some waste reduction parameters.

Race to ‘-1’ : Day 344

Link to previous day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/11/creating-black-gold-in-your-society-and-saving-tomorrow-part-3-of-3/

BETTER TOMORROW

Creating Black Gold in your society and saving tomorrow (Part 3 of 3)

July 11, 2020July 11, 2020 preetymundhra

At times it is not possible to do composting at home due to space constraint or other reasons. Or some contribute at society level if that is more effective. Some housing societies have successfully reduced the wet waste going out of society in last few years. They did it either on their own or by using help of waste management companies.

garbage carry

Image by Mike Pinkerton from Pixabay

These are few names I came across in Mumbai. Feel free to add more and expand this list so that others can benefit from the learning here:

	Location	Some details
Kanchan Nalanda CHS Ltd	Malad	2016 onwards- biocompost pit in society managed by external agency and separate bins to household.
Vijay Nagar Housing Society	Andheri	2015 onwards- Separate dustbins for dry, wet and other waste, and six compost pits set up with wet and dry waste managed by NGO’s. Manure produced is retailed under Harit Vasundhara Brand.
Whispering Palms-6	Lokhandwala, Kandivali (E)	2018 onwards- automatic composting machine.
Matoshree Pearl	Mahim	2018 onwards- Bio composter used to facilitate the natural process of composting.
Malhar Co-operative Housing Society	Goregaon

(Source : TOI, DNA, Betterindia)

Does you also do something similar at society level? Do share your experience.

Race to ‘-1’: Day 345

Link to previous Day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/10/creating-black-gold-and-saving-tomorrow-part-2-of-3/

BETTER TOMORROW

Creating Black Gold and saving tomorrow (Part 2 of 3)

July 10, 2020 preetymundhra

Composting is made easier by readily available containers with required holes as well as add on ingredients to accelerate composting or managing airflow & mix to keep odour away.

Buying a new composter is one time carbon footprint of getting additional resource but will go a long way in reducing methane emissions, help waste reduction and better environment conditions for people who are involved in disposal of waste at landfills.

There are multiple providers available on amazon and betterindia shoppe. I am a DIY user as of now and haven’t bought any composting products. But came across found the information on below ones interesting which you can explore as a starter if that makes it easier for you.

Dailydump provides stacked composting container popularly called khamba. It was started in in 2006 by Ms. Poonam Bir Kasturi and is currently supplying in India and Dubai. Initiative and vision as well as practice on waste reduction for 14 years is quite commendable effort & help for helping the waste reduction journey.
Smartbin and Ecobin are like a composting cum kitchen bin which makes it convenient to keep it inside kitchen and avoid hassle of putting the bin outside.

So by either DIY as provided in previous post or ready options like above or any other you can convert the below into a black gold and save tomorrow.

foodwaste

Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay

Race to ‘-1’: Day 346

Link to previous day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/07/creating-black-gold-part-1-of-3/

BETTER TOMORROW

Creating Black Gold ( Part 1 of 3)

July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 preetymundhra

Yes, it can be done in an apartment without disturbing your neighbours. There are many online tutorials, blogs and videos available on this. Below are my top 3 choices which I found useful. In case you have been planning for a long time and do it by yourself, so this is where you can get started with

Name	Link	Content
#Gardenup	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3rtPDwAIY	Process as well as some common FAQ and troubleshooting.
#Vani Murthy	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VrS12R1_vY	Process and ingredients clearly defined, by the compost queen.
#UrbanGardening	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDIVpJgjoXQ	Along with composting process it shows progress/ changes over the timeline.

Image by M. Maggs from Pixabay

Also listing down common terms which you may hear :

Greens: This is what we are trying to convert into the black gold and avoid going out of our house in garbage. These are all the fruit/vegetable peels and cores including any uncooked rotten fruit/vegetable. As a beginner cooked food is generally avoided to be added in the process to avoid odour and attracting ants or other pests.

Browns: This is mostly dry leaves or little soil which you can get from any garden or from below trees around you. Cardboard and paper in shredded or small pieces can also be added, but its better to recycle them for some other uses.

Accelerator: These can be things available in your home like curd, butter milk or jaggery or one which can be procured by searching for composting accelerator on amazon.in.

Race to ‘-1’ : Day 347

Link to previous day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/06/have-you-collected-this-black-gold/

BETTER TOMORROW

Have you collected this black gold ?

July 6, 2020 preetymundhra

After you start segregating waste into the three broad categories- wet, dry and hazardous ( some cities and countries do it in multiple types, lets first start with three broad ones), second simple step is handle the wet waste at our homes. Completely under our control either by:

DIY methods. ( Lot of online information available. Will share the information and links of top 3 which I found useful). I am not a process or user expert in it but I had one major concern before starting this which was the fear of odour. Let me assure that if you are keeping it covered and follow the right mix of greens ( uncooked fruit and vegetable waste which provide nitrogen) and browns ( dry leaves, paper, cardboard, saw dust, soil etc which provide oxygen) ; then you need not worry on it. In general ratio of 1 of Green and 2-3 of brown is suggested for good composting as well as no odour.
Composter providers. (They provide options where you can even process cooked food waste and need not worry about collecting browns. I will list down the names in my next post and relevant links.)

This is what is the end result whichever method we prefer- the #BLACKGOLD, better and sustainable tomorrow.

compost

Image by Joke vander Leij from Pixabay

Incase the above is not possible due to space constraints or other constraints within the house there are two things:

Doing composting at society level (This is start sooner if not home composting , so its time we at least start the process).
Try using the app sharewaste ( mostly its users are overseas but it can be used by anyone anywhere).

So are you ready to pick 1 of the 4 ?

Race to ‘-1’ : Day 348

Link to previous day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/05/is-there-a-simple-step-which-can-make-a-big-difference/

BETTER TOMORROW

The truth of land and water, Did you know?

July 5, 2020July 5, 2020 preetymundhra

Even though rules say every household needs to segregate waste but there are a states where segregation is 0%-99%. The reason could be on account of not being aware or willing. Let me address the first part on awareness.

waste bins

Image by TIm S from Pixabay

Key to tackling waste all across is the first simple step of #segregation of waste. Some cities have mandated & have fines to specifically follow rules (primarily wet waste, dry waste and hazardous waste) and in some citizens took proactive steps and got it done.

It was hard to appreciate the impact of this when it initially started years back in my city. It was quite later that I understood that this makes a lot of difference in #environmental impact and our #health on how each of these is handled.

So when waste is not segregated then this is what happens ?

Ground/River water contamination from the leachate discharge at landfills (we actually drink that after filtering)
Foul smell for those close to the landfills
Unstable weather for all
Dumpyard fires for all
More diseases for all

And if we segregate it makes handling it easier and along with avoiding above outcomes, waste is converted to resources, livelihood and a #bettertomorrow:

Wet waste can be composted which is the alternative for fertilizers.
Some cities ( and also individual households) generate biogas from wet waste.
Dry waste which includes paper, plastic, glass, metal etc can be recycled.

So is the choice is easy ? Segregate or mix.

Race to ‘-1’ : Day 349

Link to previous day : https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/04/what-different-cities-in-india-did-to-handle-the-waste/

BETTER TOMORROW

What different Cities in India did to handle the waste?

July 4, 2020July 4, 2020 preetymundhra

Last post didn’t have images we would want to see. But at the same time the problem on managing the garbage and ever increasing city waste is a problem we all know.

However, there are also some bright spots exhibited by some cities which tells us again that it is difficult but it is possible with collective efforts.

Ambikapur, Indore and Panchgani have after years of efforts has reached 100% waste segregation with Ambikapur being a zero landfill city. Two of these are very small cities to say but then we can begin by focussing on areas we live in.

These cities made this possible with :

Waste segregation at household or bulk generator level into three broad categories.
Training programs on segregation and composting.
Waste collection and disposal through SHG with infrastructure support by way of tippers / other transportation modes with compartments to ensure that segregated waste continues segregated by the time it reaches for processing.
User fee collection
Instead of waste going to landfills- wet waste used for composting, biogas etc , plastic waste for cement/ road and others segregated and sold to different user segments.
Active participation of elected representatives, religious/ non-religious leaders, community based organizations, general public.
Perspective of waste changed to everyone’s responsibility and waste to be used as a resource.