Winter is setting in, and during this season air pollution rises to dangerous levels, energy and food wastages increase exponentially, plastic packaging including debris litter the roads and several children, sick elderly and animals suffer. That’s how we have celebrated our festivals. But this time around, let’s do it with a difference.
The title of this piece actually meant – more LIGHT, less SOUND, alternate ACTION!
We celebrate our festivals with vigour, we also add a lot of waste and freely contribute to air pollution. Given the poor quality of air that we breathe every day, it may come as no surprise that the WHO has categorized air pollution as the sixth biggest cause of deaths in India, triggering an alarm, The air quality in NCR has turned “very poor” and with the onset of festive season, and it is expected to get worse in the days to come, mitigated somewhat by stop-gap measures by local Govts.
Deepavali is the festival of lights – literally, a series of lights. Its not clear when the tradition of bursting fire-crackers started, but its manufacturing began in 1900’s at a small town called Sivakasi in TN. By the 40’s it was a flourishing industry, and in 2010 when NCR discovered crackers as a main air pollutant during early winters, there were more than 650 units churning out crackers of every shape, size, sound and lights! The industry of ~3k crore turnover employing 25k local people of which >60% are women, is grappling with the rapid changes and regulations. Of course, the town also makes majority of matches, supports defense requirements, and has a thriving printing industry.
Avoid crackers – This festival season, reduce your contribution to poor air quality by avoiding crackers. If this seems hard to follow, then green firecrackers are the one to blow. Low on emissions and within permissible sound limits, these have lesser polluting particles and are less harmful. Light diyas, made of clay using ordinary oil and cotton wick; ditch the candles.
Celebrate together – Another thing to do this festive season is to opt for a community celebration. The Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) could take a lead and celebrate together, instead of separately at homes; and that’s the way it still happens in our villages so we, the city folks, should go back to our roots and emulate. The intangible benefits are many. It will bring the entire neighbourhood together, help people bond better with each other, and make the festive joy grow manifold.
Colour Right – A recent UN Environment Programme study found out that the contribution of indoor air pollution to ambient air pollution in India is estimated to vary between 22% and 52%. Believe it or not, some of it is contributed by the indoor air paint. So if you are planning to get your house painted, then opt for eco-friendly, zero VOC paints. These use water-based solvents and help reduce or eliminate the release of volatile organic compounds in the indoor spaces, apart from being renewable, are available in a variety of colours, durable, and are long-lasting.
Wanton Waste – Waste management crisis affects all our cities and towns, which is taking a serious toll on our environment, economy and public health; inadvertently, we add to the waste woes in some measures. By 2050, India will need a landfill, the size of Delhi for waste disposal! This time around, let’s practise the 6R principle.
REDUCE – Waste not, want not is one principle to live by because if you use what you have wisely, sparingly and completely, you will be less likely to find yourself in need of anything. Even though the ban on single-use plastic and thermocol is in vogue, but implementation is deferred; one must avoid using plastic in any form and carry a cloth or jute bag instead when we go shop-hopping.
REUSE – Be thoughtful while selecting gifts; keep it sweet and simple. Go for potted plants; they beautify the place and also cut down indoor pollution. Use paper wraps, or cloth to wrap gifts, and add some sparkle or tie a lace around to give it a festive look – avoid shiny colourful paper made of plastic. Donate unused items.
RECYCLE – Or upcycle as much as you can. Don’t throw away earthen lamps after one time use; instead, keep them for next time. Use natural colour powders or flowers for rangoli and decor.
REFURBISH – In the festive sale-season, there’s a clamour to buy new electronic products, and we do it without a thought to the e-waste generated. Indians create of e-waste of ~2 million tonnes per annum (TPA), of which ~440k TPA is recycled. If you’re buying a new gadget, exchange with an old one to reduce e-waste; better, donate to someone needy.
REFUSE – Another sure way of reducing waste generation as a consumer is to go local. Step out, use public transport, buy from shops instead of doing it online because what’s on offer with a huge discount comes at a high environmental cost. Around 43% of plastic is used for packaging in India, and most are single-use. The bubble-sheet, cling-wrap, styrofoam and thermocol used in packing are not bio-degradable. Buying from the local market could be tiring, but can be enjoyable family time, while reducing carbon footprint.
REDESIGN – Festivals mean get-togethers, and a lot of meet, greet and eat with family and friends happen. So if you are inviting people over for a meal, avoid the disposable cutlery — plastic and thermocol — as these end up in landfills, choking drains, adding filth on our roads and kill our water bodies. This time, go green. Dump the idea of using plastic straws and buy steel or bamboo ones. Borrow cutlery from a local plate bank (eg: adamyachetana and others) that offer steel ones for a nominal charge. Just use, wash and return. If this doesn’t sound good, then buy tableware made of areca, sugarcane bagasse, bamboo or from palm, banyan or sal leaves. The tableware made of these materials is biodegradable and eco-friendly so they do not harm the environment. Or better go the traditional way and serve food on banana leaves.
LIGHT RIGHT – This festive season avoid the ritual of firing sky lanterns. The light ain’t right even though it is made of rice paper, and string. It is because the wires in these sky lanterns take years to break down and are an environmental hazard. Bright LED’s used as serial sets are cheap, imported from neighbouring countries are not tested for domestic use hence posing a hazard. Little colourful candles come in tin containers, which are so tiny that they don’t get into the recycling channel.
Soaking in the festive spirit, let’s each one of us take a small step towards making India a circular economy like other developed countries across the world. We can do it in some measure by buying local, eliminating waste and the continual use of resources or in other words by becoming resource-efficient, minimising waste generation, converting waste into useful products, maximising resource recovery and recycling for landfill-free cities. Let each one of us start, and maybe our concerted efforts will pave the way for a cleaner today and greener tomorrow.
~adapted from an article by teri
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