So You Want to Know About the Environment

by Bijal Vachharajani

  EXPERIMENT 2

  The Pinch-Your-Nose experiment

  Close your nose and eat different food items and see if you can taste them. Some of you may already do that with milk—pinch your nose and drink it. If you can’t smell it, then you can’t taste it!

  •Chocolate

  •Hot chocolate

  •Biryani

  •Cooked bhindi

  •Milk

  •Again, make up your own list.

  Do the same experiment but by taking a deep breath and actually inhaling the smell of that food before taking a bite.

  Was there any difference?

  EXPERIMENT 3

  Nirmal Kulkarni is a herpetologist in Goa, which means he spends a lot of time in the forest studying amphibians like frogs and reptiles such as snakes. Nirmal says that every forest smells different at different times and every river too. Go on, dare you to go around sniffing forests and rivers at different times of the day (never alone) to see how they smell.

  He insists that if you smell a flower once, you will always remember that smell. In fact, he says that in the forest, tigers sometimes smell like ground garlic! How pungent they must be!

  Nirmal clearly has a good nose, and you can have one too. Start a Sniff Diary and actually record strange, comforting, pleasant and ugh smells in the diary.

  1 http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5609e/y5609e02.htm

  1 http://www.fao.org/focus/e/sofi/Count-e.htm

  2 http://www.oxfam.ca/there-enough-food-feed-world

  1 http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1327852/ngm-food-comp-with-ads-final.pdf

  1 http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/

  2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/31/how-cleaner-cow-burps-could-help-fight-climate-change/

  1 http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/nutrition/nutrition-and-feeding/diet-formulation-and-evaluation/carbon-methane-emissions-and-the-dairy-cow

  2 http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/

  1 http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/aug/12/seasonal-eating-vegetables-uk-does-it-matter

  2 http://www.fssai.gov.in/Portals/0/Pdf/Article_on_fruits.pdf

  1 Season to Taste: Molly Birnbaum, Portobello Books

  WASTE

  WASTE SIDE STORY

  Deepanjana was thrilled to be moving into a new house. It was one of those houses which had rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling facilities. She marvelled at the solar water heater and beamed at her recycle bins. There were three of them—Wet Waste, Dry Waste, and Other Waste. Deepanjana was keen to start recycling so that she would be responsible for less waste filling up landfills.

  Next day, being Saturday, DJ (seriously, Deepanjana is a long name) was preparing a sandwich.

  She hoped to recycle all the waste, without a hitch.

  Off went the plastic bread wrapper, banished into Dry Waste.

  The lettuce ends were neatly snipped off and chucked into Wet Waste, along with the ends of the purple onions, tomatoes, and fish paste.

  An egg was scrambled, and DJ wondered which bin would the shells go in,

  The Wet Bin, the Dry Bin, or in the Other Bin?

  Her portable radio’s battery died out, and she dithered between putting them in either Dry or Other.

  Just then her cat pooped, and she wondered if cat poop get composted? Oh, what a bother!

  Oh my! Oh my! This isn’t as easy as it did look…

  DJ had to find out how to recycle, by hook or by crook.

  Recycling mantra

  That was a terrible rhyme. But it did not stink as much (alright maybe it did) as our world’s garbage problems. And not all of them can get sorted out by recycling. But, recycling can help to some extent.

  So, let’s start from the very beginning.

  The very beginning we start.

  When you sing you begin with Do Re Me…

  When you bin,

  You begin with Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Reduce.

  See how it’s easy to remember?

  No? Okay, back to Deepanjana who is desperately texting her friend, Lalitha to figure out how to reduce waste.

  Deepanjana: Seriously, my garbage bins, all three of them are overflowing. What do I do?

  Lalitha: It’s simple, DJ. You Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Reduce.

  Deepanjana: Hang on, those are 4 Rs!

  Lalitha: Yes, so?

  Deepanjana: There have always been 3 Rs of recycling—Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce.

  Lalitha: Yes, and now there’s one more—Refuse.

  Deepanjana: What for? I don’t understand.

  Sigh. Explanation follows for Deepanjana and everyone.

  THE BIG GARBAGE PROBLEM

  Get up now, er…don’t forget to take this book with you. Walk into your kitchen and look at the trash. Is it overflowing?

  It is, isn’t it?

  Where did all that trash come from?

  If you look closely, okay don’t get too close. Like, don’t jump in. But if you were to spend a day observing your house habits when it comes to trash, you will figure that we are generating tons of it, from:

  ▶Food peels

  ▶Food packaging

  ▶Paper waste

  ▶Plastic waste

  ▶Courier packaging

  ▶Candy wrappers

  ▶Toy packaging

  ▶Leftover food

  ▶Old electronics such as batteries and cords

  Add below the names of the other things you found in your trash can.

  All this stuff takes time to break down. Here’s a timeline1:

  Glass Bottle

  1 million years

  Plastic Bottles

  450 years

  Disposable Diapers

  450 years

  Aluminium Can

  80-200 years

  Foamed Plastic Cups

  50 years

  Rubber-Boot Sole

  50-80 years

  Tin Cans

  50 years

  Leather

  50 years

  Nylon Fabric

  30-40 years

  Plastic Bag

  10-20 years

  Cigarette Butt

  1-5 years

  Plywood

  1-3 years

  Waxed Milk Carton

  3 months

  Apple Core

  2 months

  Newspaper

  6 weeks

  Orange or Banana Peel

  2-5 weeks

  Paper Towel

  2-4 weeks

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  Create a graph of your dustbin—trash on one side, and the amount of time it takes to decompose on the other side.

  WHAT’S INSIDE OUR COUNTRY’S DUSTBIN?

  Now that you know what your household trash looks like, multiply that by everyone who lives in your building, your school, your area. Then think about hospitals, factories, shopping complexes—how much waste is being generated across the world?

  Every year, we generate 42 million tons of waste1! The world is chucking two billion tons every day. And we need more and more land to dump this trash somewhere.

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  Can you calculate how much land would 42 million tons of waste fill? Go on, we ain’t telling.

  Here’s what constitutes waste:

  ▶Domestic waste: From cooking, cleaning to food packaging, stationery etc.

  ▶Industrial waste: From factories, industries, tanneries etc.

  ▶Municipal waste: All the stuff from your house is carted away by the municipality. Apart from the trash generated from the roads and elsewhere across the city.

  ▶Institutional waste: From schools, colleges, hospitals.

  ▶Commercial waste: From offices, stores, markets, restaurants.

  ▶Building waste: From construction sites.

  Some of this waste is biodegradable, which means it can be broken down by bacteria. Some cannot be decomposed, and some of it
can be recycled in parts (more about that in a bit).

  And the ‘Biggest Trash Culprit Award’ goes to…

  Delhi. The city generates 8,000 metric tons every single day.

  But if you are sitting back and saying, phew, I don’t live in Delhi, wait. Turns out, some 72 per cent waste is generated by the seven big cities in India.

  Aiyo! So much waste. But we are a developing country, we cannot be wasting that much!

  According to the World Bank1, worldwide three billion urban residents generate 1.2 kg municipal solid waste per person per day. India may not be among the top waste generators, but our waste generation is expected to triple2 by 2025. Which means, we do need to spruce up our waste management systems (apart from wasting less).

  Let’s take the example of a ballpoint pen. Ask your parents or grandparents, and they will tell you that as a child, there was a special joy in being afforded the privilege to use a ballpoint pen. And when the pen’s ink got used up, it meant a trip to the stationery store to carefully choose the right refill for it.

  When did you last refill your pen? (Don’t tell me that you don’t use one because all your homework is done on your super-smart tablet!) Or did you ‘use-and-throw’ it away after it stopped working?

  Pens are cheaper, and that means it’s easier to buy a new one—and there are so many cool pens in the market now.

  An average ballpoint pen is made up of plastic or metal with a plastic refill, all of which are difficult to recycle. According to a study1, the Indian market ‘for writing pens is 1,600–2,400 million pieces per year’. If you were to stay on the conservative side, we are using approximately 4,444,444 pens per day. And at least, 70 per cent of pen sales in India is that of ballpoint ones. Just imagine a landfill full of mountains of pens. And this is just one example—of a tiny pen!

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  How would you cut down the number of pens that go in a landfill? Use fountain pens that can be refilled, buy lesser pens, use a pen until its ink runs out or your desk partner nabs it, recycle it, or upcycle it into a piece of art? Put on your thinking caps and pen some thoughts.

  Hint: It all comes down to our HABITS.

  PLASTIC—NOT YUM FOR ANIMALS AND MARINE LIFE

  Ever seen a cow rooting about in garbage? Chances are that she will end up eating plastic from the garbage, and it will stay in her stomach, ultimately killing her. And plastic also chokes up marine life and other animals and birds.

  And it’s not just land that’s becoming a dustbin. Fancy a swim in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

  A lot of trash doesn’t end up in the landfill, instead it’s sent off to sea! And then it becomes ‘Not Our Problem’.

  Unfortunately, stuff like plastic isn’t always biodegradable, and it gets swept up by an ocean gyre—a system of circular ocean currents because of the wind and the Earth’s rotation—and becomes part of a swirling trash vortex. The chemicals in the plastic break down over time and can be dangerous for aquatic life.

  The biggest trash vortex is in the Great Pacific—it is roughly twice the size of Texas, but there are trash vortexes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans as well. The United Nations Environment Program1 estimated 18,000 pieces of floating plastic in every square km of the ocean. And that was way back in 2006.

  There are lots of solutions being discussed—scientists are suggesting placement of plastic collectors by coasts; a nineteen-year-old boy (back in 2014) is testing floating barriers and platforms to collect the plastic from the water; and of course, environmentalists are suggesting we stop dumping plastic in the ocean.

  SO, WE ARE IN TROUBLE. EITHER RISING SEA LEVEL IS GOING TO DROWN US, WHERE WE WILL BE BOBBING ALONGSIDE TONS OF PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES, OR OUR WASTE IS GOING TO SWALLOW US UP. THANKS, GROWN-UPS, WELL-DONE WITH THE WORLD.

  Calm down. It does look difficult. But there’s plenty you can do to get adults to clean up their act. Start by working on the 4 Rs. When segregating garbage, it means doing what DJ was trying to accomplish—putting the right waste in the correct bin so it’s easy to recycle. If your local municipality doesn’t support waste separation, then get together with your community to start it at each house and start vermicomposting with the entire locality.

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  How many trash-related puns can you think of? There’s two in this section already (the rhyme stinks and get adults to clean up their act). What more can you come up with?

  WHAT ROT!

  When fruits and vegetables get old, they start to rot. Ever seen an apple shrivel up and look like an old person’s skin? And when fleas start swarming on days-old bananas, until they become all black and yucky? That’s called rotting. When animals and plants rot, they become humus (dark organic matter), which is good for the soil.

  That’s nature’s very own recycling plant, where she makes sure nothing goes to waste.

  Do you always eat only when you’re hungry? No, right? Unlike us, animals only eat when they are hungry. For example, the tiger, who is a predator, once he is done the hyenas and vultures eat the rest of the carcass. They are called scavengers. Then, the bacteria and fungi take over to break it down completely.

  In the forest, the leaves of the trees fall down into the soil. Microorganisms take over—such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and plankton—they help decompose matter and turn it back into soil. See, zero waste cycle!

  Say hello to the farmer’s friend and even yours: the earthworm.

  Earthworms may look icky, but they are one of the most important, well, worms on the planet. They munch on soil and organic matter, and poop it out as broken down stuff. They also wriggle through the soil, making tunnels, which in turn helps oxygen get deep into the soil and also lets excess water drain off.

  Try this

  Go to a nearby garden where lots of plants are growing. Pick up a bit of soil and press it in your hands and smell it. If it’s loose, crumbly, and smells like the Earth, that’s good soil.

  Erm… why… are we talking about worms?

  Coming back to the waste issue at hand. When things rot, we also call them compost and when you get worms to help you compost, it becomes vermicomposting. And we can help reduce the landfill and trash vortex problem by composting at home, in our colony, school, or somewhere close by.

  You need to start sorting your garbage, just like DJ did in the beginning of this section. Segregation at home means it won’t get mixed up in the landfills and contaminate water or release methane (that’s right, another GHG). It also helps rag pickers who otherwise sort trash by hand and face health hazards.

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  Read the book Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling by Gita Wolf and Anushka Ravishankar, and illustrated by Orijit Sen, if you haven’t already.

  BECOME A COM-POST MAN OR WOMAN

  Before you begin segregating your trash, you need to know your garbage in and out. Here are a few tips.

  Wet waste is stuff you can compost. This is organic waste and it can be converted into compost, which is also known as Black Gold. Waste managers believe that almost 60–65 per cent of our everyday waste can be composted!

  Dry waste you send for recycling because it takes time to break down. It needs to be handled by recyclers and counts for almost 30 per cent of our waste.

  Other or rejects waste is the waste that cannot be decomposed, recycled, or reused.

  RACK YOUR BRAINS

  Help DJ compost her waste.

  Can you help her figure out what goes in Dry, Wet, and Other Waste?

  Cheat sheet: Head to www.dailydump.org to get your own vermicomposting kit.

  Postcard from Shailaja Rangarajan

  The Tetra Pak trail

  Shailaja gives Trash Talks to people in Bengaluru and tells them how to manage their waste better. In fact, she says you will find her wherever there’s trash! They are like portkeys for her.

  What happens once you bin that juice carton, which is called a Tetra Pak, after drinking it? This is what happens in India.
When you’re done with your juice carton, you bin it. It gets carted off by the garbage truck and gets to a landfill.

  Rag pickers collect Tetra Pak like these and sell them to waste aggregators, who specialise in certain kind of trash.

  The aggregators sell it on to recyclers. The cartons are squashed and put together into bundles. One carton has six layers which are made out of Paperboard (75 per cent), polyethylene, and aluminium1.

  The bundles are put into a pulp machine with water and converted into pulp. Recycling starts with separating the paper (which constitutes around 75 per cent of the content) from the plastic and aluminium. Paper can then get recycled into other products.

  Plastic and aluminium can be recycled to create roof tiles, pots and even furniture. In Europe in 2007, 33 per cent of all drink cartons were used to generate electricity!

  There are groups that give jobs to women who make interesting products such as bags with Tetra Pak.

  We can all do simple things. Garbage is everyone’s problem.

  Get your hands dirty and clean it up.

  •Don’t buy a bottle of water when you go out.

  •Buy smart: Instead of a liquid shower gel which has polluting microbeads and comes in a plastic bottle, get an eco-friendly, hand-made soap which won’t have harmful chemicals. This saves on packaging too.

  •Don’t litter. If you eat a snack, stow away the packet in your bag to throw when at home in a bin, and not on the road.

  •Segregate waste at source.

  •Set up composting in school.

  •Throw a zero-waste birthday party.

  •Add your own ideas.

  IT’S TIME TO ADD ANOTHER R: REFUSE/ RECONSIDER

  Segregation is not the complete solution. We also need to reduce buying things we don’t need, not waste things and reuse them instead. When it comes to buying things, we should use responsibly and recycle it.