Month: October 2020

BETTER TOMORROW

Choose any of these 5 steps to start sustainability

preetymundhra

Environment, bio diversity, ecological balance; all these have become more important and urgent than ever now. Although an old concept but CIRCULAR ECONOMY is gaining a lot of attention and initiatives. So at the time when the businesses are devising the strategies towards a sustainable supply chain and closing the loop for this value chain as a part of their sustainability development goals/CSR etc; is there something an individual can do ?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 


The answer was a NO till Feb of this year for me. Last 7 months was a great learning experience. Among many things I came across you may find useful to start with :

1. Carry any bag available at home ( no matter if you are reusing a plastic one as well) to avoid using & bringing extra plastics while shopping.
2. Segregate the waste into wet, dry and hazardous at your house itself which will help you move to next step.

3. Put and compress your clean and dry plastics in any discard bottle which will make it compact and easy for either the garbage collectors/ scrap sellers or recyclers. These are called eco bricks which is finding its use in many more ways.

4. Citrus peels residues can be made into cleaner (bio enzyme) which would otherwise be going into your dustbins. 3 portions of peels, 1 portion of jaggery and 10 portions of water in a plastic airtight bottle in a dark place. Open everyday to release the gas formation in the bottle. Ready to use as cleaner by 90th day by what time peels settle down in the bottle. For knowing process and usage visit https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/22/bioenzymes1/

5. Use any old bucket/ paint bucket/ pot with holes in bottom and sides to start composting. After above process of bio enzymes whatever is left from kitchen can be put in this unit with some soil or dry leaves and process can be started. Maintain one layer of kitchen waste and one layer of soil or dry leaves and keep it covered. Add some curd or butter milk as an accelerator for process. Check it after 3 months. For more details https://preetymundhra.com/2020/07/07/creating-black-gold-part-1-of-3/

Would the area around where you live look different if every family from decides to take up one of the above step? Are you ready to make the difference ?

Race to -1 : Towards Better Tomorrow


#zerowaste #sustainability #circulareconomy #bioenzymes #wastereduction #composting

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BETTER TOMORROW

Composting DIY vs Composter + Powder

preetymundhra

I started #composting as a DIY. Its been past the normal period by which compost is expected to be done. But as I had been experimenting it on continuous food additions, using different types of browns and not turning around every week; so my patience continues. Also the fact that its not smelling lets me not loose the faith.

Today I am going to try out the compost bin sold commercially for this very purpose along with use of compost maker. Lets see the difference and figure out which is easier and convenient to get everybody I know to get started on this journey.

Image by Joke vander Leij from Pixabay

Although I was so far not quite inclined to buy something to reduce waste; but if that helps convert waste into something useful for many more; then its worth a try.

For those of you who are new to composting below is a quick bite on that :

  • Composting converts human food waste and discards into food for plants.
  • So instead of all this waste going outside home and getting stored/ dumped on landfills ( unless its going for community composting); you can by way of composting contribute to save land, water and air.

So waiting to see the the results. Revisit after 6 weeks on Nov 17, 2020.

Race to -1

BETTER TOMORROW

CHOICE – yes or no ?

preetymundhra

Choice or no choice makes a lot of difference in the way we do and treat things. Even though it applies to multiple things in our daily lives, in this post I write on CHOICES we come across as consumers.

So when we have CHOICE-

  • Choice of cooking less or more makes cook more at times. The extra if not used appropriately becomes a waste. Make use of the option of sharing it with others. #reducefoodwaste #sharewithcommunity
  • Choice of buying less or more makes us buy more at times. And if that is not optimally utilized it gets wasted. #beresponsible #saveresources
  • Choice of buying or not buying tilts in favor of buying but sometimes misses the point on whether its just a mere purchase or need and / or want. #essential #nonessential #luxury

But when we DON’T have the CHOICE-

  • Cooking becomes exact or less. No waste but chances of it lesser than required is there. #Nocookedfoodwaste
  • Buying choices are more clear as exact needs to be bought. Wastage is not tolerated. #Optimalutilization
  • Buying choices are determined by the priorities and essential’s. #Priotize #essential

To rebuild tomorrow we can exercise some choice (s) and change some choices. What do you think ?

Race to ‘-1’

Image by Yi-Hsin Wei from Pixabay
BETTER TOMORROW

Peels Got the new Address

preetymundhra

Its heartening to see that so many initiatives are being taken to get back to moderation by reuse and recycle in various forms. Plastic being identified as one of the key areas where a lot of focus and initiatives are trying to make people conscious.

But as they say what we eat makes us what we think and who we become. When I started my journey towards waste reduction; I felt the urge to first start it from food waste. And there were two compelling reasons for that-

  1. I was and still not very sure on different types of plastics and which of them are better and which are not. Although I have started collecting my plastic and sending it for recycling; not very sure on the overall effect. Also the debate on use of plastic, paper and glass in terms of carbon footprint, single or multi use and disposal mechanisms available are still a subject of deep discussion. But yes, one thing which is an easy start and which I started doing is carrying cloth bag.
  2. The effect and impact which you can see when you start reducing your food waste is clearly visible and motivates you to keep continuing as well as find better alternatives. Although I started taking responsibility of my food waste (uncooked or residual) by composting and then moving to dual benefit bio enzymes for select items. However, along with these two on what keeps me motivated is to find new ways and information on the edible portions of food which a lot of us are not using due to lack of awareness. I now use some of the vegetable peels to make Chutney/Sauce. I am compiling a list basis my own experience on trying them out and basis the feedback and experiences of others who have tried them.

This is how I found my motivation to reduce waste from my house. Other than obviously our responsibility to tomorrow, what motivates you to keep it going ?

Race to -1