Five Easy Sustainable Practices

There are many articles and videos online on low waste living and if you’re like me, you’ve gone through a bunch of them. Going through all of this information inspires me to write about it too! But my reasons for writing are two-fold. While it is meant to provide information, it also comes from a place of realisation. A realisation that our parents, and grandparents were the original low wasters. 

There are certain practices and values that they always preached, through action and otherwise. However, the convenience of modern life has put these at the back of our minds. In retrospect, there’s a lot of wisdom there.

Here are a few practices that we should get back to, that will make a tremendous difference to the environment.

 1. Say yes to cloth bags!

I still remember visiting my grandparents in my summer vacations, and my grand mum sending granddad to get us treats from the local market. He would head out with an empty cloth bag specifically designated for groceries, and much to our joy, would come back with a full bag!

This is something that is advised now, to end the use of single use plastic bags. And I’ve jumped on this bandwagon for a while. We have a bunch of cloth bags, kept in different places for ease of use. We have some kept at home, but I’ve also kept one in my handbag, and one in my car. This way, if the situation arises, I always have one handy.

 2. Travel with drinking water

Growing up, my mum always kept a water bottle with her when we traveled (wisdom gained by moving around with two boisterous little girls). It came as second nature to her. Little did she know that this practice of hers would be given as advice to the present generation!

Now, I always keep a bottle handy. We live in a tropical city; so, it’s definitely needed. I fill it up in the morning and try to find instances to refill through the course of the day.

 3. Finish yo food, son!

An empty plate was always required for a meal to end, and this meant taking only as much as one could finish. This also meant trying to cook as much was needed, and if extra, then eating as leftovers. The idea of a different combination of food for every meal has always been a foreign concept to me.

These days, we try to be more mindful of our food. We aim to cook the right amount and try to finish whatever is left the next day. Old rotis and rice is given to the doggies under our building (to their joy). We have also started composting food scraps (more on that soon).

 4. Buy in bulk

Buying food in bulk is talked about off late, but we’ve seen this happen in our homes growing up. The local markets were always the place to buy dals, rice and atta. We would have a doodhwalla, who would fill up the milk containers.

I struggle with this. I have been on the lookout for bulk stores in Mumbai but haven’t come across any as yet. Once I do, I’ll be sure to mention them here. Till then, we try to buy the largest size of the food products. Not only is this cost efficient, it reduces the packaging being thrown.

 5. Reuse cloths, and ditch fast fashion

My dad doesn’t hesitate to tell us stories of his parents, and how they would get clothes made for him and his brother, that were always two sizes too large. Their idea was that they would grow into them pretty quickly (good idea, if you think about it!). This idea was practiced with us as well. It was always a given that our granddad would take us to the shops to pick out cloth, and we would be gifted clothes that were way larger than us! But these clothes lasted for years, without compromising on quality.

 This is something that has stuck on with me. I still wear clothes I bought five or more years ago. I try to be mindful with my purchases and have worked to create a minimal closet (more on that as well! So many things to talk about!).