Successful New Year Resolutions

Posts on my blog seem to be long overdue all the time! Coincidentally, I promise myself each time, that I will keep up the momentum and fail miserably. I started this post in February and I am aiming to complete it today (June 4th )

This post is not a recipe ( It is a recipe to sustainability) but something that I firmly believe and advocate. For those of you who dont know me, I went from being a meat eater to a vegetarian to then a vegan ten years ago to now a sustainable living person. The journey has been hard but enriching and the last 14 months have been very retrospective of the implication of some of the choices that we make as humans and the way it affects the environment around us ! 

In Jan 2016,  A year after I got married, I wanted to make a conscious choice of reducing the amount of waste we generated as a family ( Spouse, cat and me) and segregating the waste we generate. I had made my mum try before and failed miserably. But this time around, I wanted to do this for a better world, piles of garbage and plastic just outside my home breaks my heart every time I pass by. 

Having made switches in the past (described above), I thought my resolution through very well. ONE DAY AT A TIME  ; FLEXIBILITY being my mantra. I spent the first 15 days of January just reading through options and educating myself.  I first approached my apartment community to check if they would be interested in making the switch as a community so the composting unit could be a common industrial one. Several attempts later, I realized my efforts were pointless! 

Kitchen waste goes into a bowl

I continued to stay focussed and chose to find a more family specific solution. Meanwhile, I segregated our waste and took all our wet waste to my friends house. She has a fabulous terrace garden with a fully functional composting setup. I did this for close to two months in an effort measure my commitment to only the segregation process. I passed with flying colors. All the dry waste was separated, and my husband and I started making monthly trips to the BBMP segregation facility at Silk Board to hand over the dry waste ( Our apartment still contracts a vendor who picks up waste in any form). 

Our segregation unit

The Kamba, the additional storage, makeshift sieve and remix powder that lasts us for almost two months at a stretch 

This was when I started planning our own home composed unit and chose to work with the Khamba from Daily Dump (http://dailydump.org/shopping/index.php/composters/kambha3t-large.html ). They are very simple to use. Smell was an issue to start with, but slowly with a open window, that started to go away. Once all the pots were filled up, we realized we needed a separate drum to store the compost, so we invested in one. To layer, we use the remix power. It took roughly two months for our first yield of compost and we were super excited. This led to us taking the time to grow plants in our small balcony. 

Curry Leaves 

Pudina & Basil

Tomatoes in the offing 

As the next step, we also started looking at reducing our consumption of disposables. A conscious effort to carry our own bags, lunch boxes for takeaway and water bottles followed.  We also started buying wholesale and chanced upon a fabulous store in HSR that sells everything loose. Its called paramparyam and they are truly and ECOSTRORE in every sense of the word. Very few items comes in plastic packages and they are very keen on customizing to suit our needs.  I now buy oil, rice, pulses, wheat flour all in loose and make a weekly trip to the store. During these trips, I carry my own containers to ensure I don't need plastic bags. It is a deliberate attempt at fewer carbon footprints. Ever since I started, trips to the supermarket have become minimal and I make an effort to purchase veggies and fruits only from pushcart vendor or local markets to avoid plastic packaging ( I never understand the need for styrofoam trays to hold babycorn or sweetcorn wrapped in cling foil, IT IS SO DARN ANNOYING). 

A boon for anyone looking to buy local. 

December came and went and I was a happy 2016 resolution maker. As our yearend highlight, we also switched from using tea bags to tea infusers and did away with the numerous tea bags we consumed, that are also hard to segregate ( Paper + metal staple + plastic packaging in case of single use ones).  We loved packaged cardamom tea, but now make our own ( buy loose tea, power fresh cardamon and mix the two) .  Used tea leaves go directly into the composter. 

All the tea bags we collected before 

The humble tea infuser that cost Rs 100 

During the year, I must be honest we did generate waste, a bag in a month maybe, which initially included sanitary waste and that changed when I switched to Ecofemme napkins https://ecofemme.org/. Not an easy switch and still a work in progress.

Saw dust instead of the readily available clay based litter 

Similarly our cat litter ( the poop is flushed and the clay based litter that clumps with urine was wrapped in paper and discharged in a paper garbage bag) was a daunting challenge. Since we only grow plants that yield consumables (herbs and veggies) we cant use animal waste in the composter. This January, we switched to using saw dust and have recently started with the Bokashi composter only for the cat waste generated. It works like a charm and we use the manure generated for the ornamental plants in the apartment community 

Long story short : Its hard, its complicated but it is by far the most satisfying experience! My mum and mum in law swear by the compost that our house generates, the pudina leaves that grow in the compost, grows really well and so do plants in general. I have a standing supply chain for our compost now ( family and friends have requested a regular supply) and the compost springs surprises on you...... yes random pumpkin and tomato plants that grow by themselves :). 

Today, we also have a bucket to store water that we use for washing vessels and this is what we use to water our plants in the morning. 

The watering bucket

Basil dearest

Key Highlights 

Our very first muskmelon that grew out of the compost

 And more recently : Miss. Capsicum

Recommendations

EVERYONE CAN COMPOST 

Buy local, easily available & low on packaging items  

Start small, one thing at a time and make progress 

Its okay to have days where you default, do not beat yourself up . Instead focus on making sure you do not repeat 

Make informed choices and be realistic
Composting at source means lesser carbon footprints 

AGAIN, ANYONE AND EVERYONE CAN COMPOST