Don’t Waste the Waste
Toastmaster of the day, fellow Toastmasters and guests.
A few years ago, I was travelling from Nagarkovil to
Trivandrum in a bus. The constant humming of the bus was like buzzing of the
bees and I dozed off somewhere during the journey. A little later, a horrible
stench jolted me out of my slumber.
When I opened my eyes, I saw an ocean of garbage. The bus
was in front of the Karamana Dump where miles and miles of land was converted
into dump yard and the dump yard was brimming with activity.
Few kids and ladies were scavenging to find the wealth out
of waste. Dozens of birds, cows and dogs were busy burying their head inside
innumerable plastic covers searching for a tasty dinner treat. Hundreds or
probably thousands of flies & mosquitoes were gossiping and discussing
about the latest addition to the dump and how easy it has become for them to
spread a range of diseases. There were billions of microbes and germs too,
swimming merrily in the toxic soup created by humans
I thought ‘How irresponsible are the people who dump waste
like this. And then, a small but firm voice inside my head said - You are that
irresponsible person.
Me! But I don’t dump waste here – But you do dump waste somewhere?
Well yes! I have to dump the waste somewhere isn’t it?
Isn’t it? I ask you fellow toastmasters. With so much of waste generated in
every home and the corporation not taking it away, what option do I have? And
so I told the voice too. The voice now boomed in my head and said ‘Where there
is a will, there is a way’
In the tussle between my mind and intellect, I know that
my intellect is correct. Many of us don’t have time for breathing let alone
thinking about the waste. Or maybe think about it but don’t care enough to do
anything about it. Let’s dig deeper into this garbage and checkout what we get.
The waste generated in our home could be broadly
classified as Wet waste and dry waste. About 95% of time, the wet waste is the
food refuse, generally in the form of vegetables or fruits scrapes, leftover or
spoiled food and items which has been dead since a long time – that is it has
gone beyond its expiry date. We can cover it all in a plastic cover and throw
on road when no one is looking or we can dispose it properly. All it needs is
one conscious thought. One such method of properly disposing is composting
which has been around since time immemorial. All these food, with a few
exceptions can be composted. You can create composters using plastic bins,
wooden cages or like what I have done-using terracotta pots.
All I do is dump food waste inside the composter and churn
it once a week. Nature works on its own inside the composters and gives me
compost every 4 months. This is nutrient rich organic matter that you could use
for gardening but if nothing, throw it away, it will still nourish the earth. We've
been living in our present house for the past 5 years now and till now, we
haven’t thrown one bit of wet waste outside. Well, I dump the waste but in the
composter and not on road or dump yard, and this is what I call, the smart
dumping.
Congratulations! If you've taken care of wet waste, you've
tackled about 60% of waste generated in your house. The rest 40% is the dry
waste. Out of these, 20% are reusable and recyclable, 10% is toxic and the
remaining 10% is refuse.
We are privileged and blessed to have such a good life
that we have things to throw away! But be considerate about others. Donate your
old books, cloths, toys, equipment which are in good conditions, to those in
needy.
Wear your crazy, creative caps and reuse those old t-shirts or
dresses to make something else like rugs or wipes. Convert plastic bottles into
pretty planters and plant some plants.
For the rest of the things, make the waste collector you
best friend who will clear your home of clutter like newspaper, plastic or
glass bottles, tin or metal scrapes. And if you are in good terms with them,
they will whisk away some mess like broken footwear or non-categorized scrapes.
We also produce some toxic waste from our house when we
use certain necessary evils like medicines, batteries, paints, even electronics
equipments. Be smarter about waste here. Don’t buy extra medicines or paints so that we don’t have to throw away
extras and buy rechargeable batteries so that we don’t have to throw them at
all. Dispose e-waste in specialized agencies only.
We are down to the last 10% and anything and everything,
not covered in the above categories fall in here. Normally the refuse are small
bits of paper, plastic, bits of rubber, hair, nails or sanitary refuse are
left. It is tolerable to incinerate these waste or provide this to corporations
or landfill but only till we find a solution to this too.
I would like to mention about Lauren Singer here. Have you
heard about her? She is 29 years old and lives in New York City. She made a conscious
decision to live waste free life about 4 years back and she has reduced the
waste output so much that four years’ worth waste of her trash fits into a jam
jar. If she can, we can too.
Remember, waste is not the waste. Only the waste which is
wasted is a waste. So don’t waste the waste.
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