Having worked for a waste management firm for two years, Hamsa Iyer knew how acute is the garbage problem in Bengaluru. She decided to do her bit in solving it and opted for an eco-friendly marriage.
That decision helped her prevent 135 kg of organic waste and two kg of dry waste from ending up in a landfill site. But going for such a marriage wasn’t easy. It took her six months to zero in on recyclers, floral decorators, waste picker organisations and related groups for the D-Day, November 8 this year. She is an associate project manager with Ecosan Service Foundation, a sustainable sanitation and waste management firm.
Here’s what she did.
e-invites
To begin with, she printed just 100 wedding cards, that too for elders who are not familiar with the Internet. Other guests were invited by e-mail and WhatsApp messages. “The content was printed on both sides of the page. Guests were asked not to bring in bouquets. We told the floral decorators not to use zari but only fresh flowers in the garlands,” Iyer explained.
The food arrangement was also minimised. The lunch was served in banana leaves. Reusable tumblers and water dispensers were used for filling water. No styrofoam cutleries were used either. Guests were presented with tamboolam bags made of cloth, containing sweetmeat and savouries in reusable zip lock bags. Turmeric and vermillion were kept with betel leaves.
“As a special gift, we gave each guest an assorted seed packet containing papaya, tomato and other vegetables. Through this, we gave over 3,000 people the chance to grow oxygen and support the environment,” Iyer added.
The leftover food of 15 kg didn’t go waste either as it was distributed among waste pickers. About 135 kg of organic waste, banana leaves, flower waste, etc were sent to a waste-processing unit and two kg of dry waste went to a recycler. All it took was Rs 3,000 for cleaning up the mess from the wedding hall.
Iyer is thankful to the ‘We care for Malleswaram’ group through which she got to know about waste segregation and going green.
“Organising an eco-friendly wedding is completely possible. With careful planning, you can prevent much waste from going to the landfill,” she added.
DH News Service