Most cultures have over the years found ways to utilise resources in the best way possible; quite often unknowingly becoming champions of eco-friendly ways and waste management.

Managing waste is an essential practice in every Indian household.

Think of the creative use of yesterday’s leftovers in the fridge – from old bread to vegetable curry. Used tea leaves often find their final home in household plants, with the tannic acid believed to increase oxygenation and facilitate growth. Vegetable peels become bribes for blessings from her holiness, the local cow. Some amongst us never shy away from collecting little leftover pieces of bathing soap until there are enough to stick together to make a new bar. And then remember the posh Ralph Lauren polo that came from the US as a present from the long forgotten ‘saala’. Dad wore it. Older son wore it. Then it passed on to the younger son, who used it until it had holes in it. It then became a duster, a mop and a car wipe. When it was finally laid to rest, there wasn’t much of Ralph Lauren or polo left in it.

Clearly Indians over the years knew how to live well – not wealthy but healthy. Why is it, then, that “India generates the most waste globally” with food and green waste comprising more than 50% of all waste?

Something’s not right. We know it. We have the answers, we have many opinions. Everyone everywhere is a ‘giani’; with an advice for how things should be done. Then why are we failing? Why aren’t we serious in managing our waste? What is going wrong? Who is at fault?

Fortunately, many are now exploring lifestyle changes – Zero Waste and Minimalism – that encourages reviewing the trash one produces and carrying one’s own containers and bags for groceries and takeaways. Fortunately, there is an increase in the number of Zero Waste families and are not just a few stories in the press.

And yet it feels like the great old traditional Indian ways are going to waste, as we embrace wasteful ways in the name of modernisation and growth. What a pity!