Don’t waste your Waste
Urban lifestyles lead to accumulation of consumer goods, most of which remain unused. Here’s how one can tackle this ‘waste’.
Little do we know what goes into the manufacturing of anything we buy from the market. Whether a pen, a bucket, a cellphone or a book, they each consume precious resources in their production — fossil fuels , petrochemicals, synthetic chemicals, water. Manufacturing processes also generate lot of pollutants which contaminate air, water and land.
Also, at one end of the spectrum the middle class population can readily purchase such items while at the other end, there are people who may struggle to afford these. Hence, it is best not to waste what we don’t need and explore options to reuse or recycle them. It benefits fellow human beings and our environment.
Moving from the concrete jungle of Delhi to a secluded corner of the Himalayas was a fresh start in adopting a more efficient way of life. Hence, I first tried to give away my items to friends and acquaintances who would find these useful. Then, I reached out to organizations which take such items and donate/sell them directly for use. The rest I gave away to organizations which recycle.
Please note, much of this information is specific to Delhi/NCR as it is based on my personal experience, though some of it may be applicable irrespective of location -
Food/Kitchen Scraps
You can turn your kitchen waste into valuable cleaning agents by making bioenzyme or producing compost to grow plants.
Here is an interesting video on use of citrus peels in your kitchen waste — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w98V18mCG_4
Books
Paper is a highly polluting industry. Reusing books (selling or lending or donating) can be a great way to spread knowledge and save further environmental cost. Moreover, it can reduce the cost of buying books for disadvantaged people. The following sites provide such a platform (within Delhi/NCR). Once an appointment is fixed, they come and collect the books from home.
http://bit.ly/DonateBookAtDoorStep is the link for donation
Plastic & E-waste Recycling/Disposal
All plastics cannot be easily recycled. However, many plastic items like certain plant pots or grow bags, PET bottles, LDPE packaging material, LDPE and HDPE bottles/containers/buckets or PolyPropylene items can be given for recycling.
PVC is not easily recycled but needs to be reused or safely disposed off rather than being burnt. Particularly, burning PVC generates dioxins and furans which are harmful for human and animal health as these affect the endocrine system. These should be given away to organizations which handle them responsibly or in the absence of any, the kabariwala can use them too.
The organization mentioned below was very helpful in disposing off all kinds of plastic and solid waste which had no value for reuse. They provide home collection service for recycling or disposal.
Saahas is another organisation which provides similar services, although personally haven’t availed their services.
Toys
One can drop off the old toys to their collection centres located in Delhi/NCR -
These toys are then given to underprivileged children.
Vintage Pens
A private collector in South Delhi for vintage pens is mentioned below. There may be similar collectors in other parts of India too.
Clothes, Old Notebooks, Miscellaneous items
These items can be dropped off at any of their collection centres for reuse
Electronics
This looks promising but I have not used their services as I came to know of them recently. You can also consider exchange offers to trade older model electronic items for newer ones.
In another post, I will be covering how the 3 Rs can be applied in our daily lives. Stay tuned!
Proof-reading by: Chhavi Choudhary
Disclaimer: There is no conflict of interest and no intention of promoting any product/brand/organization. Information presented is based on the author’s personal experience or from verified online information.
After 20 years in the software industry, Ashish is now exploring permaculture in a village in the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand.