Freedom from Waste & Water Scarcity: Takeaways from ROKARNIVAL - Independence Day 2019


I had the happy chance to attend the ROKARNIVAL organized by the Residents of Kasturba Nagar Association (ROKA) this Independence Day (August 15, 2019) thanks to a Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S) member at the talk about plastic waste recycling in Taiwan. 

ROKARNIVAL was a great way to link Indian Independence Celebrations to freedom from waste. 


I met may waste warriors and innovative upcyclers at the carnival, as well as listening to the power-packed talk by composting champion - Indian soil biologist and ecologist
Sultan Ahmed Ismail. 
Talk by Dr Sultan Ismail 

At a gathering to promote solid waste management through waste segregation and composting in households, Dr Ismail immediately got our attention by saying 
"Don't segregate waste...just don't mix waste!!!"
Dr Sultan Ismail's talk, mainly in Tamil, gave the audience some vital information on waste management, grey water recycling, composting, gardening, growing vegetables and herbs as well as nutrition. You can learn more directly at: http://www.erfindia.org/

Key Takeaways from the Talk


  • Waste is resources
  • Don't mix waste, so you don't have to segregate it. 
  • Buy less.
  • You don't need to buy products to start composting.
  • You can create a bacterial culture to start off composting even without cow dung/gobbar. 
  • Use mud water fermented for a few days in a bottle
  • Alternatively, banana/papaya/rotting fruit pulp [other than citrus fruits]/ old curd + Jaggery/vellum + water a week in an air tight plastic bottle.
  • Use 7 pots for each of the 7 days of organic kitchen waste. Ensure moisture can escape. 
  • Cut waste, increase surface area
  • You can use the pots in a couple of months to start of a herb or vegetable garden. 
  • Don't use grey water from kitchen and cooking areas as the oil and Sabena mixes with other waste water debris to form an almost concrete like residue. 
  • Use grey water from baths and bathroom sinks for grey water recycling.
  • Composting can be done is oval pits in gardens with the soil dug up from the pit forming its own bundh (boundary wall). This is a good place for vermicomposting. But note, no living thing likes to live in its own feces. So even the worms need fresh waste to work own and a place to move away from the compost it creates. 
  • Worms cannot survive high temperatures generated in aerobic composting. 
  • Waste management at schools at offices as well as homes and building societies should be encouraged. 
  • Old tyre, broken buckets can be used to compost. 
  • Grey water has phosphates - after it stands for a while soapy water has the right kind of phosphates to fertilize the soil. Plants like P2O5 not PO4.
  • Plants that help process grey water include Canna Lilly, elephant ears, Taro (seppankilangu).
  • In old wasteful super-sized flush tanks you can insert a one litre plastic bottle filled with water or more than one such bottle to reduce volume of flush tank
  • The colourful seeds that are marketed as terrace garden seeds come coated in pesticides. Please handle with care as these are neurotixins. Keep away from kids. Use gloves. Ensure that you wash your hands thoroughly after handling these seeds before taking your hand or gloves anywhere near your mouth or open wound or eyes. 
  • The 6 types of plastic and no. 7 is used to denote all other types of plastic e.g., MLP (multi-layer packaging plastics)
  • Ensure plasticware especially those feeding bottles that are BPA free as its a major carcinogen.
  • Indian Flag guide to nutrition:
Ensure that daily you consume natural foods/fruits, vegetables and calcium rich foods that are Saffron, Green & White. And like the 24 spokes of the chakra ensure that you are adequately hydrated for the 24 hours of the day: 24 cups of water per day to stay hydrated. 
***
The carnival hosted stalls by upcyclers and green businesses & NGOs. There was also a book swap which is a green practice of the sharing economy that's slowly catching on in Chennai too. Take-home gifts from ROKARNIVAL included saplings and cloth shopping bags from Bags for Life. These are bags that replace single-use plastic bags with cloth bags made by impoverished women for who making the cloth bag is a means to earn a living.  




Bumpadum stall
Cloth bags & magic wallets from fabric scrap by Ms Rashmi B.
 
A treasure trove of knick-knacks upcycled from trash by Indrani Swaminathan.

The magic wallet from Ms Rashmi's stand still keeps us guessing how the note goes within the ribbons...
I purchased ballpoint pens made from cardboard from the Namma Boomi stall and was impressed by Prof. Vaishnavi of SRM University's Electrical Engineering Department who showcased cloth nappies and sanitary pads from her passion project: Bumpadum.

Indrani Swaminathan's stall was a true treasure chest from trash and she held an instant demo.


She and a visitor to the stall demonstrated how to make boxes and containers from glossy paper flyers. 
It showcased posters and plays by children promoting an ecofriendly lifestyle as well as means to reduce households' ecological and water footprints. Other activities included a quiz for kids and a very innovative online quiz for the audience via kahoot. I learnt that Manali the first zero waste zone...and nine other interesting facts on solid waste management at the ROKA-kahoot audience online quiz.


ROKA-kahoot Audience online quiz

Also promoting water conservation was Bharat a BBA student from SRM University who along with a group of friends and classmates installs and promotes water-saving water tap attachments (plastic nozzles) that reduce water wasted while taps run. 

 Overall one of the best ways to celebrate Independence Day to put citizens on track to waste less and check overconsumption. 



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