“I recently got all my clothes altered to fit me well,” declared Vasumana Ghosh, a media communication person, talking about her sustainable lifestyle to one of her friends, who had wondered if Vasumana had been on a shopping spree after she lost weight and toned up well.
That left many in the room with some food for thought. How often have we read jokes about moms and T-shirts? How an old T-shirt serves it purpose like wearing it while playing Holi or dusting the house and then finally using it as a mop.
If one wondered why plastic carry bags and cups are treated like precious goods, Shubhasree Sangameswaran has the answer in her books. A freestyle pencil sketcher who advocates for a green planet through illustration and stories for children, Shubhasree conveys the message of recycling and multiple use of household stuff through her books.
Most of us have witnessed our mothers and grandmothers rinse and dry milk packets. They also stacked plastic covers for reuse. “Some of us even considered it being stingy and branded them, hoarders. Truth is, that is actually a sensible way to live,” adds Vasumana. If you want to cut down on buying things, want to learn the art of recycling and lead a sustainable life, here are some tips, shared by those who are practising it.
Less chemical in my home
After having ditched the disinfecting liquids for the house, Rajeshwari is saving small amounts in her monthly grocery bill. She says, “My argument is, we travel by car, our daily footwear rack is near the main door, so why do we need litres and litres of disinfecting liquid. And by the way, when we are draining it out, we are only adding more chemicals to our environment. I remember seeing my mother use the mop water to water the plants and trees in the garden. We are all reeling under a water crisis, so by ditching the chemicals, we can use the mopped water to better use like watering our potted plants.
Never bought a mop so far
Spandana Chalasani, a medico puts her old T-shirts to better use. Says she, “The DIY ‘Crafty and Nifty’ videos are a bit far fetched, so I cut off the sleeves and use the shirt as a mop. My domestic help doesn’t approve of it because it doesn’t slide across easily on the floor, one needs to put extra effort. I use the sleeves to clean footwear or to wipe off grease and oil from oily cooking, before putting it to wash.” Want to know other use of the sleeves? Stitch them if you have time and use it as a handle cover for hot vessels (kadhai). Not very Instagram-y but it does put your things to best use.
Up next, kurta
Seeing the amount of cloth that goes waste when a kurta becomes tight or has faded, my mother did something that made our jaws drop. She cut off the top half of the kurta, took lower section to the tailor and said, ‘I want blouses made out of these.’ And exactly a week later she was seen wearing the blouse and earning compliments for her clever idea,” says an amused Antara Chowdhary, a teacher. Antara followed suit and turned some of her printed cotton dupattas into tops. Her pro tip: Selection of the material matters.
Old bedsheets and curtains
Arundati Rao calls her suitcase, filled with kurta sleeves and old bedsheets, her treasure trove. After she collected sufficient, she made mittens out of the kurta sleeves, cushion covers from old linen curtains and kitchen towels from old bedsheets. “Bedsheets fade and tear in the centre alone. The sides always remain in good condition. I feel bad to throw them. Her pro tip is ‘If one doesn’t mind sleeping on a bedsheet with a joint, then they can easily cut off the damaged part and join the other two corner. Or else they can be easily made into kitchen towels to wipe hands and utensils after washing. She turned her old palazzos into aprons and is on a pouch-gift spree. “I made the cloth pouches from old add-on kurta sleeves,” she says delightfully.
Cloth bags
Simply using a cloth bag is not considered sustainable. So if you end up buying a cloth bag each time you go out shopping then you got the sustainability story all wrong. According to sustainable advocators, any matter produced, leaves carbon footprint, so unless it is not put to use enough number of times, we are not really supporting sustainable living. “There is no thumb rule to the number of times one must put a cloth bag to use. Bottom line is every commodity bought or purchased needs to be put to optimum use. So, if you thought to carry a small cloth bag in your handbag is uncool then you need to re-think your sustainability game,” says Kaja Sashikanth, founder of thebagman campaign.
