Ahmedabad duo to pedal from Gujarat to Delhi for ‘zero waste’ campaign

Ahmedabad: They both are above 50. They are very passionate about cleanliness. They have found and practices concrete solutions to the problem of waste generated at home and they have through their awareness campaigns and workshops made others to practice it. They believe foreign nations have better cleanliness standards not just because their government but also because of the people out there. They believe citizens should not pass on the problem of house-generated waste to civic body, but segregate it and use kitchen waste to make manure and give other waste to rag pickers. They have developed Rs 2000 planter that can be easily used to make manure from daily 500-700 gram kitchen waste generated at home. Such innovative planter would cost Rs 2500 earlier as it was procured from Bengaluru. But now with their efforts, local potters have started making such planter and therefore its cheaper.

They both are now going to pedal a distance of 1020 km in 11 days from Gandhi Ashram in Gujarat to Gandhi Samadhi at Raj Ghat in New Delhi from January 2-11, 2017 to spread awareness on “Make Your Home Zero Waste”.

Ahmedabad based Sanjeeta Singh Negi(51)(sanjeetasingh@hotmail.com) and Piyush Shah(57) today interacted with media persons ahead of their Ahmedabad-Delhi cycle journey which is aimed at creating awareness about zero waste. In the course of their 1020 km journey in 11 days, they will halt at several places and interact with the groups of students and others to narrate how segregation of waste and its proper utilization is better idea and very much possible. The duo will make a stop at every 100 km where a detailed presentation will be given on “Change the way you throw your waste” in a school, college, womens clubs like Inner Wheel, Rotary Club or at Lions club. A similar campaign has been on in Gujarat for the last 2 years, led by Ms. Negi, Priyanka Brahmchari, Divya Tejwani and other residents of Ahmedabad. Interactions with the media will be held in cities such as Ajmer, Jaipur, Udaipur, and New Delhi.

Both Negi and Shah extend support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachcha Bharat Abhiyaan. Ms. Negi has been a green crusader and a pioneer in introducing the concept of segregation of waste at household levels. She disseminates knowledge about composting and introduced daily dump composters in Gujarat since 2014. She has also won the Green Warrior Award. She has been a marathon runner, ultra marathon runner, a mountaineer who has climbed Stok Kangri Mountain (6,153 meters 20,187 ft.) in year 2015, a trekker and a cyclist who had cycled to Nepal to Kailash Mansarovar in 2011.

Mr. Piyush Shah is a renowned marathon runner of Gujarat and finds a mention in the Limca Book of Records for running on a treadmill for 181km in 29 hours in 2013. He was the India ambassador for Garmin Sports Agency in 2011, ran 21kms for 100 days in 2015. He also ran 100 full marathons for 100 days which is also a record. Recently on December 24, 2016, he ran 171 km in 37 hours from Ahmedabad to Ambaji. Mr Shah is also dedicated to the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.

Zero waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills and incinerators. The process recommended is similar to the way resources are reused in nature.

Simply putting, the concept is about segregating the house waste. Kitchen waste would be mixed with soil in planter or available land in order to make manure out of it, while other waste would be passed on rag pickers or pastiwala.

“Our landfills are getting bigger and waste generation is increasing by the day. This is the story of every village, town and city of India. The problem is big but together we can solve it. We are not talking about what big companies do and how they pollute our resources. We are only talking about how an individual or a house can take care of the waste that may range between half a kilo to 20 kg,” said Ms. Negi on the initiative.

Plastics, paper, bottles, glass metal and electronic items can be recycled and normally kitchen waste is biodegradable. However, mixing of waste raises the problem. The urgent need is therefore, to segregate waste. After all, 95% of waste from home is not a waste. Rather the waste generated is a means of living for scrap dealers and rag pickers.

DeshGujarat