If not plastic then how ?

As part of one of the discussions on Face-book - Someone asked:

"If we do not use Plastic bags at all, how can we collect our trash / garbage and not create a mess when we dispose them off."

Because my answer was longer then I thought :) - I decided to share it as my first blog entry.

And so here it goes:

You have a very valid and potent question and not answering it is in fact a loop, as you put it. Let me try to answer that in three parts:

Part One - Use of Plastic

I have wondered:

What were we doing before the Plastic bags were invented?
- Someone wrote:
"Plastic bags were introduced in the United States in 1977 under the premise that the manufacturing process of paper bags were killing trees, wrecking forests, and destroying habitats for wild animals. Plastic bags were seen, at the time, as a far superior environmental alternative to paper bags. Oh how have things changed since..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reusable_shopping_bag

Did cleanliness became possible only after the plastic was invented?

Use of plastic is one of many BAD things we have learnt (or learned) which we need to un-learn. But to our defense when we did - we did not know the adverse effects of its utility. Because it is engraved into our system so much, an outright elimination of it at once, will not be possible. So the steps would be Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and in that order.

First - we Reduce it - Stop asking for or accepting plastic when we shop.
- When buying Vegetables - use good old cotton bags. (Thailla and Thaillee)
- When buying groceries, carry your cotton bags, ask for Paper Bags.
- When buying groceries in bulk - use own containers, if possible.
- In the end there will be two situations were we will be using plastic.

• A: Where it is already pre-packaged.
• B: For Trash Collection, until we figure out another mechanism.

Second - We ReUse it - for trash collection we use the bags we already have.

Third - We Recycle what we can not ReUse.
Reusing it can in fact become recycling if the trash processing companies do so, as it is the case with all US waste management companies.

PART Two: Divide and Rule

One of the reason for the NEED of the plastic bag is because we produce trash! While in many case it is inevitable there are ways we can reduce producing trash itself. Generally speaking - household trash can be classified in two categories - DRY and WET. We need plastic for the WET (and heavy) trash.

So Step 1 - Install two dust bins in home - one for dry and another for wet.
For DRY you do not need plastic. You may not use any or use paper.

Now let's tackle the WET one.

Main source of wet one's is the Kitchen (for the most part) which includes trash related to - for Indian / vegetarian households -
- Vegetable related, - Tea / Coffee related, - Grains related.

These actually form an another category called Compo-stable trash. So if we can manage to establish Community Composting Facility, we actually do not need to trash the wet trash but can (re)use them to produce something useful.

Following demonstrates the examples of such installations.

India: Pune:
Pune has City Ordinance for some years now where new building constructions must provide Composting Facilities. Here is one method / tool about composting at home:
http://conference.nswai.com/2%29%20SandipT.Mali%201-Rapid%20Composting%20Technique%20for%20Vegetable%20Waste.pdf

Additionally Pune also has many community initiatives already active.
http://government.wikia.com/wiki/Composting_in_Pune
India: Bangalore
http://www.dailydump.org/bangalore_composting
US: NY City
http://www.lesecologycenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=36
US: San Francisco
http://blog.harvestpower.com/composting/8-interesting-things-about-san-franciscos-recycling-and-composting-effor/

PART THREE: Biodegradable Plastic bags.

Finally - let's say we did all and we still have need to use the Plastic Bags because that is the best possible use of their durability. Try to use those which are not a problem. There are many inventions and products in the market today which offer plastic bags which do not have the negatives of the traditional plastic bags.

Summary:

- try producing less trash by consuming consciously.
- reduce use of plastic from as many sources as possible
- reuse and recycle whatever we can.
- encourage local communities, government and waste management companies to recycle.

A continuous effort in these direction(s) will lead us to less intrusive human existence.