I still remember my childhood days when we had to carry a shopping bag whenever we went for shopping. Plastic bags were not available or not given for free. Generally our shopping bags were made out of some old trousers which was not worn by anybody. At that time, reason of doing all this was very different. But because of those constraints, we were forced to do a marvelous thing -> "reuse".
I would take one more example. Being the younger son of my parents, I used to happily wear old clothes of my elder brother which were in good condition. It was like a part of life and I did not see anything wrong in it. At the end, those old clothes were getting "reused" in a beautiful way! By the way, it does not end there. I have studied from the same school which my brother attended and I had to reuse by elder brother's text books :).
In those days, reusing things again and again was to save some money or it was a compulsion because of the lack of one time usable packaged products in the market. I remember my grandmother used the water for gardening which was already used for washing rice. Most of the water used for gardening was already used for something else. One of the primary reasons of doing this was because we used to get water for one hour in the morning and for one hour in the evening through municipal water connection :).
Use of electricity was a luxury for my grandmother. She always used to switch off all unused lights and fans. I must confess that we used to hate it but later it became a habit for us too. At that time, it was done because she wanted to save on electricity bills and now we should do it because we have to save electricity; no strings attached.
Now comes the question, why am I talking so much about reuse? Here are some observations. We keep reading in newspapers that the natural resources are becoming scarce and many of them would not be available after few decades; The carbon foot print of every individual on this Earth is increasing everyday; We are using natural resources mindlessly; We need more fuel, electricity, food etc etc. At this rate, where are we going? We need to do something about it and we have to act NOW!
But before that the question is, who is responsible for this situation? It is partly done in the name of boosting the economy by introducing consumerism. I think we have taken the concept of consumarism too far. The single use concept was introduced in disguise of convenience. Use and throw is the new mantra. Nobody talks about reuse unless they are somehow forced to do it. This single use habit has been injected into us because as long as consumerism is promoted and adopted as a way of life everywhere in the world, new markets would be created for products and overall economy would keep growing. But at what cost? A city like Bangalore in India generates millions on tonnes of garbage every year. Most of it is not recycled at all. It might be acceptable for biodegradable waste but what about non-biodegradable wastes like plastic, electronic, chemical, nuclear, radioactive etc? The rate at which we are generating non-biodegradable waste every year, very soon we would not have any fertile land and clean water available anywhere in the world. We are treating our mother Earth like a big junk yard. This might be an exaggeration but the intent and the message which I want to convey is loud and clear.
I assume that we have to solve this problem and we as a race does not want to run away from it. We want to keep this planet livable and we should not plan to run away to another livable plant. Its too futuristic but that day would come if we do not act now. I like one of the dialogues from the movie "The Matrix" in which Agent Smith tells Morpheus: "I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure. ". Partly, what was said is true. What the human race is doing at present is very nicely put in these words. Our population is growing leaps and bounds and the amount of food required to feed all of us would not be sufficient in future. I was reading an article recently in a leading newspaper which stated the outcome of a scientific conference somewhere in the world. One of the scientists quoted that the amount of food required in next forty years would be equal to what was required in past few million years. It is obvious that a businessman would see this situation in a different light but the truth is: "life is not only about business and economic growth. It is far-far more than that." And this is the reality we collectively are running away from.
Please note that I am not against economic growth. Consumerism IS required for overall growth. Products are required for guaranteeing a good standard of living. But we have to keep questioning our system and find out that at what cost are we getting all this? Is this kind of growth sustainable in long term (by long term I mean really long term :) )? At the end we as species (including all the species) would be the sufferers if a line is not drawn between growth and walking towards complete catastrophe.
But enough of discussion. We are probably clear that only mad cancerous growth is not going to work. NOW, what is the way out? The simple answer to this question is "reuse". We should try to reuse everything everywhere. When I talk about reuse, I am not only targeting reuse of commercial products but of a reuse which saves natural resources, plants etc too. Reuse is already a very big concept in software industry. The evolution of programming languages and all kind of software tells the emphasis given to reuse. Imagine, you have to start from writing an OS first for writing a "Hello, World!" program :). Even industrialization itself is to stop all of us from reinventing the wheel (which in a way is reuse). Coming back to our topic, I would give you an example of how easily reuse concept could be adopted in our day-today routine. In office, I generally have two cups of coffee daily. I have a habit of having a glass of water before tea/coffee. Previously, I used to use a paper/plastic glass for having water and I used to take a coffee mug for my coffee. Now I have water in my coffee mug first and then 'reuse' the same mug for having coffee. Simple! :) This way I save two paper/plastic glasses a day and approximately 450 glasses a year. Even in a scenario where reusable glasses are kept for drinking water, this rule applies because every time we use them, they have to be cleaned using water and soap and mind you; water is precious. Imagine what would happen if all the employees of my organization start following my reusable idea! I can get an award from higher management of my organization if I propose this idea to them :). So, now we know how effective these small measures could be in long run.
I have listed down few very small and simple ideas from my side which are based on reuse concept. In the next section, I have covered few ideas which can be applied at a larger scale.
1. If you are used to drinking water before tea/coffee, use the coffee mug first for having water and then REUSE it for having coffee. This way you can save plastic/paper or water.
2. Try not to touch utensils such as glasses with your mouth so that it can be reused by others. Here, keeping the reusable utensil clean is very important. This way you can save plastic/paper or water.
3. Save and reuse water as much as possible (my grandmother's example). I never use bath tubs. It is a criminal waste of water. Remember that 3rd world war would be fought for water :). Everyday I see water tankers on the road and think what is more precious: Water or diesel?
4. Make the kids at home learn the reuse concept as part of their lives. There is no need to teach them separately. Teaching is required for spoilt and misguided people like us :).
5. Reduce your carbon footprint as much as possible. If possible, use solar power.
6. Always switch off unused lights/fans/decorative lights. Check your house for any switched on power points before going out.
7. Avoid anticipatory buying. Buy only those things which are REALLY required. Many of the times we buy something which becomes a "pseudo garbage"* for us. By "pseudo garbage", I am referring to new things which we do not use and are kept in the house waiting to be thrown away someday.
8. Encourage recycling of newspaper, plastic packets of milk etc.
9. Always carry a shopping bag with you when you are going to buy vegetables etc. Avoid accepting plastic bags as much as possible (Imagine a vendor giving you a packet of biscuit packed using plastic, in a plastic cover!!!).
10. If you are not in a hurry, do not use the "spin" option of washing machine for drying clothes. You can use natural sunlight for doing it.
11. Do NOT waste food and make sure that food cooked at home is always consumed fully.
12. Try not to cook your meals and store it in fridge. Also, instead of wasting additional LPG, take veggies out of the fridge few hours before cooking them.
13. If it is fine with you, younger children at home can reuse stuffs from elder ones.
14. Use torn/unused clothes for dusting/mopping.
15. I think a shirt can be worn minimum 2-3 times before it needs a wash :)
16. Use plastic carry bags accumulated while shopping in your dust bin.
17. Encourage grown up kids to use slate and chalk for doing their rough work. This would save a lot of paper.
18. Do not take unnecessary printouts. The concept of "pseudo garbage" applies here also. If you have taken a printout by mistake, you or your kids at home can use the blank space for rough work, preparing shopping lists etc.
19. Do not accept pamphlets which you know you are going to throw away.
This list is non-exhaustive and we can keep adding new points to it. After these small steps, we should also think of reuse at a larger scale. Below are few inputs from my side:
1. Introduction of glass bottles for packaging of milk, soft drinks etc instead of plastic bottles.
2. Companies can encourage the reuse of their products' packaging material. As an example, they can introduce an offer where they give certain discount on a new packet of biscuit if 10 old packets of the same biscuit is produced.
3. Extensive research should be done on packaging technologies from the point of view of reuse.
4. BAN plastic bags.
5. Introduce chapters on reuse in primary schools and educate children about the importance of reuse.
6. Research on large scale on the use of renewable energy sources.
7. I could think of a system where refilling is possible for all products without using any intermediate means of packaging. Imagine, there is a pipeline provided for every shampoo in a supermarket and you have to carry your own bottle for buying shampoo. In these supermarkets, all liquid products can be maintained in big containers. This way, we can save a lot on packaging cost and also a lotttt of plastic.
I hope I was able to convince you about the dangers of "use and throw" culture and how "reuse theory" can save us. I also hope that the tips for reuse/saving energy are helpful.
By the way, I have not introduced anything new in this article (except point 7 above) and am only trying to create awareness.
Both positive/negative Comments are welcome. I would be expecting few inputs also from your side as well.
* Pseudo Garbage - I have used this term in a very different context here. I am not sure if this term has been used like this anywhere else.
No comments:
Post a Comment