Up until now, we humans have been a greedy lot, overusing the environment’s resources to fulfill every whim and fancy; be it through more deforestation and industrialization, increased pollution and depleting natural resources. The harm we’ve caused our environment is coming back to haunt us, the ill-effects are evident for everyone to see. But things are changing for the better.
People have now become aware, and are even taking steps in the right direction to improve the situation. If you visit apartments and homes, you’ll notice that today many household in metros follow waste segregation, reuse of plastic containers, use of cloth-bags, buying organic fruits and vegetables instead of the packaged alternatives, storing and reusing water to avoid excess water wastage.
While these actions are big steps in the right direction; the time calls for more active participation. And to help you move to the next level of a sustainable lifestyle, we’ve listed below an action-plan to help you recycle used items and move towards the next level of a sustainable lifestyle:
- Donate Old Newspapers for A Cause
It is tempting to give away your monthly newspaper collection to the ruddi wala for some pocket money in return. Instead, you could connect with newspaper recycling agencies who utilize these papers to create handcrafted products like carrybags, paper plates and artifacts, which are then sold to support various social causes. Parvaah is one such agency who works to collect newspapers from households and turn them into valuable material.
- Send Your Plastic for Recycling
Plastic is still the main material used for making containers and boxes and other daily use items. Collect your plastic waste material and send it to organized recycling units so that you know your waste is reaching the right end source for proper recycling, and will not end up in a landfill or some water body. Trashin is a plastic recycling organization that’s been leading the way in Bangalore.
- Ugly Food Is As Good As its Pretty Counterparts
It’s our tendency to buy pretty fruits and vegetables over the ugly ones, even though the taste of both may be the same. In many markets, fruits and veggies with more scars and spots tend to get wasted as customers prefer the cleaner ones. Take a chance and go for the uglier options, not only will they taste the same, but you could get a better price for them as well. Try some recipes for ugly food and let us know how it worked out.
- Be responsible for Your e-Waste
e-waste is growing in abundance with people purchasing and disposing of mobiles, laptops and other electronic gadgets much faster than they ever did before. E-waste contains large amounts of harmful, radio-active waste and can be hazardous if not disposed off properly. Two NGOs, Saahas and Ensyde have dedicated themselves to e-waste recycling. They have collected 10Tons of e-waste so far.
- Sustainable Fashion is In
The idea of recycling, reusing and repurposing fashion isn’t a new one – but it wasn’t until recently that the once-taboos of shopping at thrift stores became trendy. Doodlage, 11:11 and Abraham and Thakore are just some fashion brands that have made upcycling fashionable.