recycling

Around five years ago, Suvarna Sane was looking for unique products to gift during a get-together. At one exhibition of women entrepreneurs, Sane came across upcycled products of reCharkha. "I was always an environmentally conscious buyer and the purses and totes from upcycled plastic appealed to me,” says Sane,  a government servant. “My friends and relatives also appreciated them.” Sane later learnt that Amita Deshpande and her team at reCharkha also accepted plastic bags as donation. "I went to her workshop, which was also their tailoring unit, with my plastic bags,” adds Sane. “I was impressed with their work and…

Rusty swings and broken see-saws once ruled the playground in KSGMPS aka Immadihalli Government School in Whitefield, established during British rule. But since 2017, children are heading to the school playground earlier and leaving later, just so they can play with swings, caterpillars and twisters. Anthill Creations had set up these structures here using scrap tyres, a trademark of this Bengaluru-based non-profit. In another part of the city is Aralikatte Park, near National College in Basavanagudi, also set up by Anthill. The monkey bar-like structure here has colourful tyres overhead, instead of the usual metal bars. Children clamber through and hang…

There are two unconnected areas where I see unethical and unchecked profiteering going on; I came across one because of having to buy two sets of books, notebooks and other school materials for my grandchildren, and the other, when I made a rare visit to a mall with friends. Schools should practice what they preach, and recycle books from one set of students to the next set who follow them. But instead of doing this, they make a package deal of books, notebooks and art and craft material, which it is mandatory for parents to buy. I think the total…

The Tata Mumbai Marathon 2019, held on January 20th, saw a record 46,414 runners take to the streets. Even as marathons and other runs across the the country have seen increased participation over the last few years, the spotlight on their environmental footprint has also become stronger in its glare. Waste management champions have long been emphasising the need for more responsible organisation of such events and a petition initiated by Shilpi Sahu, calling for the greening of the Mumbai marathon, received 114,000 signatures over a year.** Before the start of the event, the organisers of the Mumbai marathon, Procam…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship There are some things in every house, which were used in the past, but not so useful anymore, but stay on the shelf collecting dust, because people think it might be useful in future. What if those products are rented for a fixed period? What if you could donate all that material to a store that makes products out of waste? Changing consumer habits have led to generation of more waste. Today recycling has evolved from being a trend to a necessity. This is also a business opportunity. There are…

On the occasion of India's 72nd Independence day, when Bengaluru should have observed the plastic ban effected two years ago on March 11, 2016 through a gazetted notification, bulk manufacturers of the national flag remained unaware of the environmental impact of using common polyester fabric to make these flags. Despite the Ministry of Home Affairs issuing a notice advising state governments to keep a strict vigil on the usage of plastic flags this year, the purpose was defeated, primarily because most vendors did not grasp the real implication of making and selling polyester fabric flags. The manufacturers, distributors, and shops often…

A group of ecologists, on what appears to be a boat, are holding an olive ridley turtle. The turtle is seen gasping for air and is trying to breathe through its mouth. A closer look reveals that the turtle’s left nostril is blocked. An ecologist tries to pull out the blockage with a pair of pliers. The turtle, writhing in pain, soon starts bleeding. The next seven minutes are harrowing, but finally ecologists succeed. While the turtle is free, ecologists, much to their dismay, learn that the stuff blocking the turtle’s nose was a plastic straw! This eight-minute-long YouTube video…

It’s not every day that you hear of a municipal waste dumping ground that is a tourist attraction. But in Vengurla taluka, a half-hour drive from India’s tourist hub of Goa, it isn’t just the pristine beaches that are drawing people. In 2017 so far, the municipal waste dumping ground, where every piece of waste is recycled, has received 7,000 visitors. They’re travelling to see how the small municipality is recycling 7 tonnes of waste generated each day and transforming their community. It is earning a hefty income, which is being ploughed back into municipal activities. In 2015, under the watchful eye…

All schools have festive occasions when the parents and children celebrate with the school. But at Magic Puddles, a playschool in J P Nagar in Bangalore, the annual mela this year, on the 5th of December, 2016, recycled a lot of stuff that would otherwise end up in waste dumps."This year, we decided to set 'Skills' as the theme," says Nandini Rammohan, of the playschool. "Rather than an activity which the children started just before the mela, we decided that we would teach them some skills throughout the year, and have them teach it to the parents, and instruct them,…

Repair Café is organising its 5th workshop on March 19th 2016. It is being hosted by The Green Path situated at Seshadripuram, from 11.30 am to 4 pm. Apart from repairing and upcycling, other highlights of the workshop include Talk show on Water Conservation by Aditi Hastak from Biome Workshop on basics of Kitchen Gardening Screening of a documentary film, Economics Of Happiness So what is Repair Café?  Repair Café is a community gathering where repairers, volunteers, visitors come together for the purpose of repairing household articles. A repair man busy at work. Pic: Purna Sarkar Since our first Repair…