How My Journey Started:

I grew up in a household where wastage was a crime and buying stuff for the sake of buying (and not needing) was blasphemy. So quite early on, the values of no wastage and minimalistic living were instilled in me. However, as I grew up and my lifestyle changed, the amount of waste generated changed considerably. Realising that my lifestyle choices were having an adverse impact on the environment based on the amount of waste generation, I started to think something had to be done as I felt, we were leading up to a crisis.

My waste journey began with a simple step of segregation of my own waste at home.

This was around 7-8 years ago when we setup our own waste management process in-house. This was at a time when it was rare for people to talk about waste and waste handling was yet to become a crisis. The only way to implement waste management was to know and understand the whole process. I started reading more about waste and the more I read the more it hit me about the impact we are having.

From the small step of waste segregation at home I ended up doing full time volunteering in Solid Waste Management. I literally handled garbage bags, waded through landfills, went sitting in the garbage pickup autos trying to create awareness amongst people about responsible handling of waste. The Waste Management at our own apartments was also extended beyond simple waste segregation to composting, tying up with a recycler to manage the dry waste and ensuring maximum recyclable waste gets recycled responsibly.

All this made me conscious about every piece of waste I was generating myself. The focus became cutting down dry waste that the family generated. Which also meant getting rid of plastic in our lives.

Out went the plastic toothbrush to be replaced by bamboo ones. Plastic covers was always a big no. I always used to carrying my own bag, so that was never a challenge. I stayed away from products that are packaged in plastic and instead opted to buy only loose produce and handpick fruits and vegetables myself.

Cleaners aids and solutions such as Harpic, Lizol etc. got replaced by homemade Bioenzyme.

The detergents and their packages got replaced by natural soapnut cleaning detergent which I buy in replaceable glass bottles.

Shampoo bottles got replaced with natural homemade shampoo in replaceable glass bottles or no packaging shampoo bars.

One thing I eternally carry in my handbag is the lip balm. The plastic tubes got replaced by home made balms in glass jars again. I slowly opted for no cruelty, zero chemical lifestyle. And being a no makeup person always, saying no to off-the-shelf cosmetic products was the easiest thing to do.

Plastic containers in kitchen are now slowly getting replaced by glass or steel containers.

I am not comfortable just dumping my plastic containers in one shot as I don’t like the thought of creating so much plastic waste. So that is happening in phases.

Clothing is one more space where I now consciously buy only natural fabrics, even in the seconds purchases.

Never been a fan of synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon so natural fabrics was an easy choice and switch for me.

But I am yet to become a zero waste person. Sometimes I end up ordering from big basket and get their packaged stuff. This is mostly a case of poor planning at my end when the home hits a shut-down stage owning to empty containers in the kitchen! I definitely need to become more disciplined when it comes to running the household to help me reach my goal of becoming zero waste.

This is all part of a conscious consumption journey where I try to tread gently without using any virgin resources. And my obsession has rubbed off on my family as well as we hardly buy stuff anymore and decluttered lifestyle is the primary choice.

About The Author:

Shailaja is an ex-corporate employee who during her corporate life travelled the world, enjoyed the materialistic lifestyle and had been there done that when it comes to consumption based lifestyles.

From there she has now come to the other end of the spectrum vouching for minimalism and a decluttered lifestyle.

She is the Founder of Rimagined (rimagined.com) which works on making upcycled products out of all types of dry waste. A pioneer in this sector in India, she leads from the front with her action and words for minimising irresponsible consumption.

Her current plastic footprint is 4.3 kilos out of which 1.5 is milk packets alone.