Sus-ing: A Fad or a Classic?
Albus Dumbledore said that happiness can be found in the darkest of places if one just remembers to switch on the light.
I think the same for all aspects of my life and for sustainability too. It can be found in the places where you wouldn’t expect it to be and we can choose to find it if and only if we remember that our planet needs it.
Sustainability is a trend nowadays, but I feel that it’s wrong to refer to it by that term. As we have learnt in the fashion cycle, trends get over in due time, but Sustainability should be like that little black dress in our closet, which always remains a classic that never goes out of style and is a necessity.
I had recently taken up sustainability as an elective in my college. I had the honour of getting a fantastic teacher who made me think and question how things work at the fundamental and grassroot level. I learnt many things in Amrita ma’am’s classes and will now be citing how it all makes sense to me.
According to Aldo Leopold’s Land ethic, we can only be ethical to something we can see, understand, feel, love or otherwise have faith in. This brought my thought to something which we are surrounded with at every given point of time all our lives, “PLASTIC”!
We can see it, feel it and sometimes even love it but it has to stop. The Sustainable Development Goal Number 12 includes “Initiatives to reduce the production and consumption of plastics.”
The main problem with plastic is overconsumption and our mindlessness.
The way we currently produce and consume plastics is not sustainable. The massive production and consumption of plastics, especially single-use plastic products, have contributed significantly to the plastic pollution crisis. Chemical pollution due to plastics impacts our ecosystems, endangers animal lives and also has a deliterious effect on human health.
Thus, sustainability can only be achieved if it is looked at from three different aspects: environmental, social and economic. The efficient intersection of these factors will lead to a sustainable development model.
Many people think that being sustainable is tough, and they couldn’t be further from the truth . The only thing required by one is to change this mindset and do something they are interested in and then slowly build up on it, and that’s precisely how I started. For someone like me, at this initial stage, sustainability means upcycling or recycling and reusing. That is what the crux of my project is.
Upcycling is reusing discarded objects or materials to create a product of a higher quality or perceived value than the original. The things that we simply overlook on a day-to-day basis can be given a new life and thus, reduce energy consumption and usage of more resources.
Project: Best out Of Waste
Everything starts at home, and so does sustainability.
For this project, I focused on both — the non-biodegradable objects as well as biodegradable objects. I started with the aim to upcycle them.
- Plastic table mat made out of flour packets
The first product has been made from a straightforward process of weaving the plastic pieces to form a wholesome table mat. The material was quite easily accessible and the end product was quite vibrant. It definitely made me happy, the way I could achieve this beautiful product from objects I had least expected.
Plastic upcycling is very important as most the plastics that we use today aren’t recyclable and are thrown into the landfills or the oceans where they don’t even decompose.
The primary method followed all over the world for up-cycling plastic is making plarn, yarn out of plastic waste, be it from plastic bottles or the polythene bags and then making products out of plarn through various techniques like crocheting or weaving.
The products made are rugs, carpets, bags and even accessories.
2. Product 2- Memo Board
The second product made by me is a memo board using only 2 raw materials — rice bori jute bag and amazon cardboard.
Both of these materials are easily thrown by us and end up in landfills which in turn harms our environment.
Both these materials can be recycled and used again, but I took the approach of upcycling and here is the outcome.
For decorative purposes, I had used the leftover yarn from the various activities undertaken by me in NIFT. All this yarn had been with me since I was in semester 1 :)
When we look at these materials, they can be easily recycled, but most of us don’t know the correct places to drop off these materials and reduce the impact on the planet.
· These paper related items need to be recycled as recycling paper helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that can contribute to climate change.
· It takes 70% less energy and water to recycle paper than to create new paper from trees. Manufacturing with recovered paper cuts down on pollution that contributes to smog (and ill-health).
· Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees and more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
Thus I have made a list of a few places where cardboard, paper and plastic related items can be dropped off in Delhi, NCR so that each one of us can contribute our bit.
- Green-O-Tech India
Address: Raghu Nagar Near Janak Cinema,New Delhi
Phone: +91 78400 24848 / 78400 34848
Email: info@greenotech.in
Working Hours: 9:30am — 6pm
This place recycles even plastic and wood related goods thus we can also drop off our plastic PET goods here
2. Jaagruti
Delhi-NCR, India
+91–98101 91625, +91–9818 144 244
10am to 6pm on Weekdays. If our phones are not reachable, please drop in an email at paper@we-recycle.org
3. GEM ENVIRO MANAGEMENT P. LTD
Unit №203, P-3, Central Square,
Bara Hindu Rao,
Delhi-110006
GEM is a company formed to facilitate recycling of all kinds of packaging waste and thus contribute towards a cleaner and greener environment. They specialise in collection and aggregation of all packaging waste in a professional and organized.They also take pre-production waste from companies like Coco cola thus not just after consumption which is a great step.
Conclusion
Thus, now we know that there are numerous ways to explore the materials post usage, keeping in mind that the aim isn’t to always recycle and up-cycle them.The main objective is to take conscious decisions towards our everyday activities so that we don’t end up with this waste in the first place. An excellent place to start would be to carry your own tote bag for vegetable shopping.
Since we all can see it and feel it, it's high time we start doing something about it from our side too.
Make sustainability a classic and not a fad.Whether you choose to accept it or ignore it, sustainability is here to stay :)
