Increased usage of thin plastic bags have become a matter of great concern
to one and all. While most of us agree with this and vociferously argue
against use of plastic bags, many of us have not put this into practice in
our own homes. T here is an old saying that " Charity begins at home"
Some of the ways in which we can do this is as follows:
REFUSE/REDUCE
- Use cloth bags of different sizes i. Always carry one with you, if
need be in a nice looking thick plastic/paper bags. ( If anyone wants
cloth bags stitched, I am ready to render this service free of cost)
- When you go for vegetable shopping, always carry your own
plastic/cloth bags of different sizes ( if you do not want to sort the
vegetables after returning home).
- Grocery shopping may be done by asking the shop keepers to deliver the
goods at home ( which most of them in our vicinity do).
- When purchasing packed products ( like bread etc) which come in
plastic bags, do not ask for one more plastic bag to put it in.
RE-USE
- in spite of the above steps, if plastic bags have landed at home,9 On an
emergency basis) please store them carefully for reuse as often as
possible. You can fold them nicely and return them to the vegetable
vendor/shopkeeper who will gladly accept them ( if they are clean)
- Ensure that no plastic bags are thrown into the dustbin and keep a watch
on it for some days (Habits die hard!). Keep one small bucket /container in
which you could keep these bags for reuse (They take very little space and
you can store thousands in one container)
- Instead of lining your dustbin with a big plastic bag ( which does not
serve any purpose other than being lazy to clean the dust bin) use old
envelopes or other paper to line the dustbin. (Just imagine.........what a
relief it would be to the environment).You may have to shell out Rs
10/month to your servant to clean the dustbin daily! ( just imagine one
bag per household per day less in the environment.
RECYCLE
- Milk Bags may be cleaned with hot water while having bath and dried
and stored separately. For this purpose, each building could have one
bucket kept separately on the ground floor in which all these bags could
be dumped by all the residents. ( this is because these bags could become
smelly if they are damp which could spoil the other stored bags).On a daily
or weekly basis, either the sweeper or a rag picker could take away these
bags free of cost.( I am sure some charity will do us good!)
- One volunteer is needed in each house to motivate as well as to
supervise and guide the other family members for a few months. Senior
citizen of the house can take up this assignment and believe me,
generations will be grateful tohim/her for this little effort having great
impact on the environment.
- Please separate dry and wet garbage at the source. It is very easy to
do so. By force of habit, we mix natural and man-made garbage. Insist on
the sweeper taking them separately and dumping them separately. ( The
Secretary/ caretaker/ Volunnteer needs to supervise this just for a few
days till a new habit is formed!)
- Is Garbage so terrible? Do not look at garbage as something terrible
to be pushed away from sight as fast as possible. This leads to
irresponsible habits of disposal. We have been conditioned to react
adversely to garbage from our childhood. When fruit peels are left in our
plate for a few minutes, we do not mind it because there is no bad smell.
But once it goes into the dustbin, it is considered to be
dirty.........Have you noticed that if you keep an open dustbin in an open
space, it does not stink at least for 24 hrs but when you keep it closed in
a closed cabinet, it stinks each time you open it to throw fresh garbage.
if you have not tried this, why don't you do so? Keep your home dustbin
open. Fish and meat eaters are advised to throw the remains in the toilet
and flush them out so that the dustbin does not stink.
Please do not have the "Not In My backyard" policy or" out of sight is out
of
Mind" attitude. Problems related to garbage clearance have reached
alarming proportions and each one of us is a culprit either due to force of
habit or sheer laziness in sparing a thought and taking a little action
Let us assume that there is a municipal strike and there is no alternative
but to dispose off your garbage yourself! How would you go about
it....You may have many more ideas which you would like to share with me.
Please feel free to do so!
In case you want to volunteer your services, please do so
Let us join in this campaign of reducing garbage and plastics and leaving
a better heritage.
Kerala Dalvi (4227842)
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