Zero Waste : More Achievable Than It Looks

A lot of us have seen zero-wasters on the media. 

The ubiquitous image of identical mason jars in the kitchen, bamboo toothbrushes, fancy un-paper towels and shampoo bars — all these things that we associate with this lifestyle, the way we associate hydro flasks and scrunchies with VSCO girls — is daunting for most of us. 

We wonder if zero-waste is achievable in the first place, and then we drop the idea. You know what? Zero waste isn't what it seems, and is very much achievable without much effort. 

Zero-waste in India vs zero-waste abroad:

The zero-wasters that we see in the media are mostly wealthy white families. 

They are the ones who are leading this movement, and since there are so many of them, they have ended up publicising the image that we associate with the movement. I can't blame them, actually. They live in countries that offer the means to live that way. Bamboo toothbrushes and shampoo bars are available there. There are grocery shops that sell essentials without packaging, where you bring your own containers (of course, the stores themselves would have to contend with the packaging that the groceries reached there in). 

And the people who go zero-waste are wealthy, so they can afford that lifestyle. So this is how zero-waste works abroad.

In India, such zero-waste products are not as widely available. But that doesn't mean we cannot go zero-waste. We're a different country (in fact we're still a developing country), we have different resources, and we should tailor the zero-waste lifestyle to suit what we have at hand.

It's actually nothing new in India.

What is considered single-use plastic is reused many times over by Indian families.

Our parents, grandparents and so on have all been practising zero-waste, the desi way. We make fun of these practices, calling them 'middle-class things', but we should never discontinue them. If all of us keep up these practices, we're halfway there. 

The 'plastic bags full of plastic bags', reusing soda bottles, squeezing out every last bit of toothpaste, the life cycle of clothes which I spoke about in an earlier article, are all great practices.  

We're not a plastic-free nation yet (and let's be real, it's a tall order for a country like ours), but 60% of all plastic is recycled here, unlike in the USA where 75% goes into landfills, and we have to thank our kabadiwallas for that.

We just need to take it up a notch.

While upholding our good practices, we can do better. While we cannot buy everything loose, we can preserve the packaging for storage. Whatever we have, try to give them a second life.

Better still, try to find non-single-use alternatives. Substitute gift wrap with gift bags, and whatever gift wrap you receive, reuse it for someone else (See? A mix of reuse and replace can work wonders for the planet. Basically don't throw anything away). 

You don't have to buy pretty mason jars. The jam jars you already have will serve the purpose. Cardboard, from whatever source, is an asset. Don't toss away soapboxes, fancy chocolate boxes and whatnot. I use them for quick fixes around the house, and for making gift tags. As for sticky notes, you can make them with paper whose small parts are blank. 

I cut a lot of these 'sticky notes'
from used notebooks and paper

I clip them on a wool strand tied to my window.
You can use paper tape on walls, or BluTack

As we can see, making replacements like these, which use what we already have to the fullest, is the next level that the desi zero-waste movement can make it to. Our trash cans will get emptier and emptier in no time. We have what it takes, and we're expert jugaadus too. We'll get there if we all pitch in because many people going zero-waste imperfectly is a lot more effective than one person doing it perfectly. If we keep in mind our unique problems and skill set as a developing nation, India will lead the global sustainability movement.