GARBAGE To GARDENS - A creative approach to recycling By Sudha Pai

What prompted me most to write this article is an advertisement which comes on almost all the T.V. channels ;It shows a filthy pile of garbage and a couple of children and a stray dog walking by the side of this pile, covering their noses and mouths saying ‘CHEE’. One is then seen asking the other whether he had had a bath with Lifebuoy soap. The whole world is seeing this existing reality!

It is a well-known fact that none of the soaps or shampoos can be a solution to this existing grave garbage situation. Whenever you are out for a walk anywhere in any city each and every corner of the street has filthy and stinking garbage bins, overflowing and surrounded by stray dogs, cats, rats, birds and what not. To add to this, there are the little street urchins who put their little hands into this pile of rubbish looking for plastic bags and bottles. In the process, they are exposed to all kinds of infections, cuts and wounds. They too belong to our own society! We can’t afford to shut our eyes to this miserable situation and walk past, if at all we have any conscience within us.

People are spending a lot of money on advertisements and on other social causes like Pulse Polio, bringing film stars etc. And while lots of donations are given to build hospitals; little thought has been given to the real problem, which is also the reason behind all other problems, which has to be tackled.

For the last 58 years however we have not seen anything happening on this front. We too easily blame the government, politicians, corporators and every other public system we can point our fingers at. Fortunately we have not had any minister for garbage affairs, or else, the public would have by now beaten him up! With the increasing population things are only going from bad to worse.

Now coming to the point, first of all we should stop complaining about and at the same time not ignoring this problem. We have to decide to do something worthwhile in our own individual capacity .We should create an awareness that we should do something for ourselves and thereby help our society, surroundings and ultimately the whole environment.

The household garbage should be considered as our own personal problem and responsibility and it should be taken care of at that level. There is no need to form any groups, collecting donations, giving speeches, street shows etc. All one has to do is separate out the garbage into wet (e.g. kitchen waste & garden waste) and dry (e.g. plastic and other stuff) and then make constructive use of this wet garbage. I’m speaking from my personal experience and feel very happy about it. Some of my friends and neighbors in Magarpatta city, Pune are also following these methods and are very happy. They are able to achieve beautiful gardens in their premises.

Lastly you may ask what one can do with the garbage that accumulates. First of all this garbage need not be thrown out of the premises at all. There are few effective methods by which this can be converted into very useful and excellent manure for all kinds of plants with no smell or odour emanating during the process. Unfortunately these products are not advertised on the T.V. channels. If these are advertised in the future, beautiful plants and flowers may replace the garbage pile in the background with healthy children walking by. The viewers would also feel a sense of pride and joy when they see this.

I have been able to use my kitchen waste and garden waste very effectively by using these methods and can very proudly say that none of my household garbage has ever left my premises!

I appeal to all my friends living on this planet, Mother Earth, who has given us everything starting from life itself, followed by pure air to breathe and pure water to drink and good grains, vegetables and fruits to eat and natural healthy surroundings to live in. Let us also reciprocate with our heart and soul and make this a better, healthier and happier place to live.

I would love to share my experience of using all these recycling methods.