Going Green

Every Drop Counts

Ramesh Loganathan, Professor and Head of Research Outreach IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology), Hyderabad has created a home that exemplifies stainability. Besides rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, and solar electrification, the home also boasts a rooftop kitchen garden. “We have built a rainwater sump, where terrace rainwater goes through a simple sand and coal filter, and collects in the sump. On heavy rain days get a week's supply of water. We get enough rain to meet all our water needs. Sadly, People do not conserve rainwater and collect it through rainwater pits and injection bores. It is important that we do not go the Cape Town or Bangalore way, where there is a water crisis.,” says Ramesh. Rainwater, which is the purest form of water on earth, when passed through the coal filter is fit for drinking as well. They installed a Grey Water Treatment Plant that treats the wastewater from the kitchen, and bathroom sink. This water is used for plants and we thus save 300 litres of fresh water daily. Ramesh does not use chemical soaps, instead he uses Sunni pindi (herbal green gram powder) and shikakai for hair wash.
Ramesh and his wife Kalpana have been into rainwater harvesting since 2011. They also convinced the members of their society to go for a rainwater harvesting system. “We realised the full impact of the rainwater harvesting in 2016, one of the worst summers the city had seen. That year our society in Gachibowli went through the entire summer and beyond with the help of rainwater harvesting.” What started as an initiative to manage water at the household level, has grown into a city-based project to conserve lakes and rivers. Kalpana, an architect and interior designer, has been instrumental  in restoring water bodies  and promoting rainwater harvesting.

Trash = Black Gold

Age is no bar when it comes to leading a sustainable lifestyle.

Vani Murthy (63) has been making compost at home. A media influencer, she inspires others to manage waste sustainably and grow food at home through her useful videos. With over three lakh followers on Instagram, Vani (aka Worm Rani) spreads the message of making compost which she calls Black Gold. A homemaker from Bangalore turned green activist, she manages waste by practicing urban terrace gardening. “60% of our household waste is wet waste. It is a great resource that belongs to the soil, not to the landfill. I was disturbed when I saw Mavallipura where the waste gets dumped. As the wet waste rots, it produces methane, one of the top greenhouse gases contributing to global warming,” says Murthy. A few years ago, she met Dr. Meenakshi Bharath, a solid waste management expert, who had an impact on her. That led her to practice sustainable living. She also became one of the founding members of the Solid Waste Management Roundtable (SWMRT), a collective of solid waste management practitioners that helps citizens and municipalities adopt sustainable waste management practices.

Recently Vani was one of the nominees for India's first National Creators Award 2024, She has also been featured in the list of the ‘One for Change’ campaign by National Geographic India. Vani says, “Social media helps to sensitise people and even encourage them to do good work and be responsible.” Her online and offline initiatives are impacting people and surprisingly her followers are in their 30s.

Social media platforms are powerful tools and she feels happy to spread awareness about sustainable lifestyle. All the methods of compost and urban farming she shares are easy to practice. “I don’t create content but I live content as this is everyday practice. The safest food to eat is what you grow yourself. Gardening gives me tremendous joy. Also, the more I grow, learn, and share, I can then motivate others to reduce the waste going to the landfill,” says Vani.

Eco-friendly Lifestyle Tips

• Carry a reusable bag, steel water bottle, steel tiffin; avoid using plastic glass, straw, or water bottle
• At home use low-flow shower heads, and water-efficient aerators for taps  and flushes
• Segregate waste and compost the wet garbage
• Do not throw plastics into dustbins, send discarded plastic to recycling units
• Window sills, balconies, and terraces that get sunlight can be used to set up a kitchen garden
• Switch off connected devices (TVs, phone chargers, etc) when not in use
• Opt for energy-efficient devices and equipment like BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency) labeled or eco-star products

Niyati Shah of Mumbai believes change is a habit that one needs to consciously adapt to. Taking the lead in your society and ensuring everyone uses less plastic is her mantra. Disturbed with so much plastic going to the landfill she did intensive research and started recycling the plastic bottles into ‘Grow bags' as plant pots. “Plastic is a miracle innovation and is here to stay as it is cost-effective and durable. But it is not recycled correctly so it has become a demon. Plastic bottles have always been a hazard to the environment and have clogged too many spaces” says Niyati, founder of Grow Bags.

The young lady, who is an MBA and a marketing professional recycles plastic bottles in a cloth-like material that makes them porous, so they absorb air, sunlight, and water effectively and are ideal for growing plants. She procures PET bottles from radiwallas through a process that converts them into a fabric which is then molded in a variety of shapes and sizes. For a small ‘grow bag,’ four to five PET bottles are recycled. Grow Bags are BPA (bisphenol A, -an industrial chemical free and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Niyati has also designed vertical grow bags that can be used to cultivate fruits, flowers, and vegetables. She has  an all-women’s team of four members who help her make the grow bags. She sells directly to consumers and to interior designers who are looking for eco-friendly alternatives. At a personal level, she avoids plastic and has moved to 100% steel and brass, to store food or water, even her toothbrush is made of bamboo.

• Alia Bhatt has teamed up with SuperBottoms for sustainable baby care. Alia also promotes sustainable clothing through her brand, ‘Ed-a-mamma’ which creates eco-friendly and comfortable clothes for children, using natural fabrics. Alia also urges often on social media to give up using plastic and use steel or glass instead.

• Samantha Ruth Prabhu has set up a home garden where she nurtures microgreens, glimpses of which she shares on Instagram. Samantha has invested in a Hyderabad-based e-commerce marketplace for sustainable products. She has also in the past shared reels of eco-friendly cleaners made from the kitchen ingredients

• Ajay Devgn has invested in a  state-of-the-art solar park setting up a 25-mw unit in Gujarat in a joint venture with the Roha Group and film producer Kumar Mangat. He has solar panels in the garden of his Mumbai house and his farmhouse in Karjat.

• Neha Dhupia and her husband Angad have switched to electronic bikes instead of cars for shorter distances.  They do not use single-use plastic at home.

• Dia Mirza is an Eco Investor and the UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador for India. She has been vocal about environmental issues. Her wedding was a sustainable event with no food wastage, glass water bottles, and gifts were hand-crafted woven baskets with a plant. Dia also celebrated her son, Avyaan Azad Rekhi’s second birthday, sustainably with zero waste and plastic-free, reusable lanterns while the game corners had pottery and organic crayons.