An Article on reusing our waste
Photo credit: matthew_hull from morguefile.com
I remember one incidence that happened with Mother Teresa while travelling from USA to India by plane. It was a long journey and people travelling by the plane were taking breakfast, lunch, dinner – various types of food but leaving some of the items they were being served. It was left- out food and the air hostesses were collecting in the waste baskets. Mother Teresa took the baskets herself and started collecting such left – out food carefully as well as properly. Someone asked without knowing who she was and why collecting left – out food/meal, what she would do with it.
Mother Teresa replied coolly, – “ I have a missionary in Calcutta ( now Kolkata ) for the poorest of the poor of the society who have no parents to look after them, they are in thousand, they need food to survive and these left- out food can be better reused to feed them. The moment I will get down at the Damdam airport, I will rush to my mission and use this left- out meal to feed them.
When I read this news in the papers, I was inspired by her thought. I feel we also can do something in respect of the useless things lying in our houses and beyond that for reuse. How it can be done is explained below:
1 : We have got some clothes and dresses which have become very old and we do not use it, it is lying unused for a long time , occupying the places unnecessarily in our boxes or almirahas . I suggest such old clothes and dresses lying in our houses can be well washed and ironed properly. All can be given to the needy people of the society or charitable trust/NGOS.
2 : We have got some wretched & torn clothes in pieces particularly long saris, dhotis, bed sheets, chadars, curtains, napkin, toils etc. We should wash and clean them properly and distribute among the poor young girls of the unprivileged family of the society for reuse as sanitary towels.
3 : Recycling of used frames and lenses of Spectacles : Most of the people in our society use spectacles and the moment power increases, the lenses are required to be changed and at this stage either the lenses are changed or both the frame and the lenses are required to be changed. These used frames as well as the lenses can be donated free of cost to the needy people through the eyes hospitals and or the spectacles shops for recycling.
4 : We use plastic bags in our daily life in shopping and in so many ways. These plastic bags fly hither and thither and gather or dump at some places, create nuisance too. The Government should enact some strong rules and regulations and those who make the places dirty, pollute the environment, should be heavily fined or punished. It affects badly our air we breathe in and environment we live in. We can collect these plastic bags and send to the respective plants and factories for recycling. Pet animals like cows, buffaloes etc. eat up these used plastic bags and suffer from various chronic diseases and breathe their last in a short span of time. With the advancement of science and technology we can make / build roads ( as done in Jamshedpur township in Jharkhand ) with the used plastic bags . Electricity can be produced with the used plastic bags too. In New Delhi it is being done now and gradually as there is power shortage it can be done in another metro cities in near future.
5 : A large number of books, copies and registers are lying in our houses. They are outdated. They are very old too. They are so obsolete that they are of no use for us and for the generation to come. They are lying in open spaces/places or in bookcases or in almirahs or trunks or boxes. If in open places, dirt and dust are accumulated every now and then. Harmful virus and bacteria use to gather there which cause different types of diseases. In most of the cases these old and obsolete books and copies are of no avail, of no use for us but we keep them years after years, do not think for their disposing off. We can donate the useful ones to the library or colleges or schools and for useless ones we can sell them out for recycling. In this way we can keep our houses neat and clean. We can protect us from various diseases spread out from virus and bacteria.
6 : Reuse of the residual portions of green vegetables, green leaves and stems etc. : In almost every house in kitchen, every hotel, restaurant, hostel, canteen etc. green vegetables, green leaves and stems ( sag and danta ) are prepared regularly to serve with the meal to the people. Most of the green vegetables bear skin, bark, shell i.e. louki( kaddoo ), kohada, jhinga, nenua, tinda, parval, potato etc., we have to peel out these unwanted upper layers before we put into the fry pans or fry pots or cookers for finally preparing the green vegetables. These green skins or barks or shell peeled out can be gathered or collected in a particular basket or drum for reuse as food for pet animals like cows, buffalos, goats and so on. It is no exaggeration to say that these peeled out parts of our green vegetables that we use as an important part of our daily food/meal/dishes are no less important than that for our animals. We will have to work only a little bit more and take care of properly but the satisfaction that we will get by reusing the wastage is more than that we deploy.
We can use it as manure in our garden and grain field. We should dig a big hole and put into it all such peeled out portions/parts of the green vegetables regularly and when the hole is filled up, it is to be covered with soil. In a year it will turn into very useful manure and can be used in our gardens and fields without additional cost on manure we purchase for.
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Writer: Lion Durga Prasad , Bich Bazar, GT Road, Gobindpur , Dhanbad ( Jharkhand )
Dated 5th. September 2014, Friday.
Courtesy & concept : Lion Dr. SN Choudhury, Lal Bazar, Gobindpur, Dhanbad ( Jharkhand )
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