WEBINAR ON ZERO WASTE AT HOME

“Sustainability is a way of life. The one who learns it, learns how to survive.”

Covid-19 pandemic has brought a lot of changes in our lives. Right from bringing about a drastic change in our daily lifestyle to altering our ways and approach towards various habits, we can now assuredly say to have gained ethics. But when it comes to waste management, even in such grave times where cleanliness is said to be a vital priority, it is somewhat clear that we have failed in living up to the mark. Even when there was no one on the streets, there was still garbage and rubbish dumped almost everywhere. This situation arises because the majority of us lack proper education on waste management.

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In the light of this prolonged issue, The Bhawanipur Education Society College hosted a seminar on ‘Zero Waste Management At Home’ on the 11th of September, 2020. The event was organized over Google Meet, under the National Service Scheme (NSS) collective of the college. The event began at 4pm in the evening and continued for 2 hours.

The event began with the host, Prof. Gargi Guha Niyogi welcoming the Prof. Dilip Shah – the Dean of Student Affairs of the college. Prof. Shah then went ahead and welcomed the two speakers for the event – Mr. Nandan Mall and Ms. Pauline Laravoire. Prof. Gargi introduced both the speakers – Ms. Pauline holds a master’s degree in Sustainability and Social Innovation from HEC Paris and is currently striving to create more learning and professional opportunities for students in the sustainability sectors, especially through her network-based venture Y-East. On the other hand, Mr. Nandan is a social activist who is also the Founder & CEO of Hulladek Recycling Pvt. Ltd.

Thereafter, Ms. Pauline started off with her speech. She described the various key terms related to waste management. Teaching the importance of ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ was her major focus. She then went ahead and talked about the ’17 Rules’ which must be followed in order to attain a sustainable environment. She discussed the role of the 3 P’s i.e., Profit, People and Planet involved in this aspect and cited the reasons as to why should we actually care to obtain sustainability and how can we make a difference today. According to her, this is not just an environmental issue but also a social issue. She said that we must strive to make a difference today because the problem persists today only. Hence, waiting for tomorrow is just a fancy waste of time. Also, she highlighted the fact that we must solve this problem while it can be solved so that our future generations benefit from it. Again, in a country like ours where the masses are underprivileged, it becomes all the more necessary to take quick actions to combat this issue because waste not only negatively affects the environment but it, particularly E-Waste, also has various ill-effects on our health. She stressed on the necessity of making an individual effort in trying to make a change because she believes that change always starts small and once, we set-off on the journey to make a positive change, people accompany us and it ends up becoming a global revolution.

Then our second speaker of the event, Mr. Nandan Mall gave a brief speech and carried on the same narrative. His prime focus was on enlightening the students about Electronic Waste (E-Waste) and its management. According to him, one of the major causes in the increment of E-Waste is due to the increased purchasing power of the public. As the purchasing power of the people increased, they started spending more and subsequently more E-Waste was produced. Mr. Mall highlighted how in India alone, a remarkable 2 million tons of E-Waste is produced every year! He then went ahead to deliver the number of ways through which one can reduce the amount of E-Waste they produce. According to him, investing in good electronic brands is the most vital way through which one can bring reduction in E-Waste. A good brand not only promises good quality and long-lasting products, they are also seen to have a better waste management facility than the cheap brand houses. In a nutshell, Mr. Mall advised the students to be a bit ‘picky’ while choosing the brand they decide to invest in.

With this, the first half of the webinar came to a halt and the much-awaited ‘Best Out of Waste’ art & craft competition began. The students made fancy art & craft out of the waste products and stunned the judges. A total of 30 enthusiastic students took part in the competition. The winners were – Aditya Pandey, Rukaiyya Md Vana and Khushi Shaw and Ritika Khater. Finally, a short description about the various internship opportunities offered were talked about and with this, the event came to a very end. Prof. Dilip Shah thanked the two speakers for providing their precious time. The overall webinar was very insightful and highly helpful.

Reporter: Sanjana Lall