how can housewives help to create a green planet

Hi
I appreciate you for starting this thread.
Housewives can strictly say a big "NO" for the plastic bags and take a cloth bag for vegetables and grocery shopping thereby cutting the usage of plastic bags.
We can try to reuse the bags whatever we have and finally trash.
Try to plant trees or atleast small plants.
regards
Lakshmi

 

Hi,

You have started nice, valuable thread. I am a house wife who wants to create green planet and also following few steps for it. These are few tips.

Inorder to create Green Planet, Trees are necessary.We are loosing trees as the usage of paper increased in the form of toilet papers , tissue papers and kitchen tissue papers.

1) Minimise the usage of these papers by using cloths in place of paper. You can wonder how we can use cloth instead of toilet paper. Here I offer u simple solution which i am followin. Give ur family members separate cloths with different colors to wipe out after washing and change them everyday.

With this you can save toilet papers,money and indirectly trees.

2) Minimise usage of paper in the kitchen, instead use a cloth to wipe out ur hands etc.

3) Minimise usage of plastic by avoiding usage of blastic bowls, plastic covers by replacing steel, ceramic or glass bowls.

4) Avoid using paper plates.

I am following all these things and preparing my family to follow these.

Swasha

 

I wish to share about our neighbourhood. Ours is a small town in southern part of TN, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">India</st1lace></st1:country-region>. I moved here from Chennai a few months back. I was really surprised by people's cooperation in maintaining their place green and environment friendly. I wish to list you some of the happenings

1. Every day a woman from Panchayat office comes with a cart, where two dustbins (One for Recyclable waste, one for non recyclable waste) are placed. The first day I went with a single dust bin with all types of waste. She gave a lesson about using two types of dust bin and about the types of Wastes. I was totally taken back and started following her advice. She is very strict about the disposal of waste. The waste is recycled by the panchayat later.

2. The roads are kept clean with removal of weeds every fortnight and people are strictly advised not to dispose any waste in the public. All our neighbours follow it with pride and new occupants are advised about it.

3. Every fortnight there will be tractors to each street for collecting the dried leaves and other wastes which cannot be disposed in the small cart.

4. The shopkeepers in the area say a strict “NO” to plastic bags. So we started using Cloth bags.

5. Every home has a small garden and trees. Every day there will be a discussion among the neighbours (Mostly home makers) about their garden. Tips will be shared among them.

These are few things that are followed in our home town.

 

HI EMERALD thank you for starting such a valuable thread it is easy to write and hard to do as we are so spoil t by plastic bags and plastic products it is as if it has always been there, to think of it it come common in our parents time only our India looks so dirty outside with people not caring and throwing rubbish as if it is their own garbage can.
i usually use reusable plastic bags for liquid product, and have lots of potted plants and tree around my place i reuse my kitchen waste as fodder for plants
i make my own bags of waste cloth or sarees and foot mats too.
i make sure that all garbage is sorted before putting in garbage lorry,

 

Hi Emerald



Thank you for the concern on Our Earth

• Proper disposal of garbage - use organic waste in the garden in case you have one.
• Zero down the usage of polythene bags
• Minimize generating garbage by making use out of refuse (recycling)as much as possible
• Try to maintain garden as plants reduce pollution
• Try to avoid open burning of garbage
• Last but not the least conservation of enegy resources - both renewable as well as non-renewable which can to extent reduce vehicular exhausts

 

Hi
Here what I do. Just a tiny effort, but at least a drop in the ocean !
1. I avoid plastic bags as far as possible and carry jute bags for most shopping.
2. I seggregate waste, give recyclables to the raddiwala. I use the organic waste to make vermicompost. Good fertilizer for my potted plants.
3. I have replaced all bulbs at home with energy efficient ones.
4. I have trained the family to use vehicles less. We walk to any place within two kilometers. Its also good exercise !
5. We use only 1 bucket of water each, for bathing . And there's no geyser. Only solar heater.

 

Recycle: I see you are in India. We do not have too many recycling places in India. What you can do is collect all your recycling material and give it to the raddiwala. He may give you some money for it, like with old newspapers, but then that is optional. So collect all the soft drink bottles, oil cans, plastic containers in which you get food home delivered from restaurants and give it to the raddiwala. The raddiwala even buys / takes old electric appliances. Separate garbage (wet and dry) if it is collected separately.

Reuse: You cannot totally avoid plastic in India. If you go to a supermarket, you will get the groceries in a plastic bag. Reuse these plastic bags. When you go to the nearby grocery store or market use these plastic bags or a cloth bag. Make it a habit of keeping a couple of these bags in your hand bag. They don't take up space. So whenever you go out you know for sure that you have a bag and don't need one from the shop. However do not use these bags to line your garbage bin. For the garbage bin use only garbage bags.

Avoid using paper: Use cloth instead of paper towels / tissues. I know it's very inconvenient at times, but avoid using paper plates. For children's parties etc buy some plastic plates which are easy to clean (you can just dump them in a bucket with warm soapy water after use and it'll require minimum scrubbing) and can be reused again. They can even be used when you go out for picnics. Not many people in India are comfortable using toilet paper, but if it used in your house, you can do away with it and install toilet hand showers. Take print outs only when necessary.

Use machines on full load: If you are using washing machine or dish washer, ensure that you operate them at full capacity only. This will reduce water wastage. If your machine has a “hot wash” option use it sparingly.

Baths: Use the old fashioned bucket to take a bath rather than using the shower. It saves water. Teach your children not to spend too much time in the bathroom and waste water.

Taps: These days in most taps are “half turn taps” i.e. you get more water by just turning the tap a little bit. You probably need such taps only in the bathroom while having a bath and not at the sink or at washbasins. Next time you need to replace the taps use “full turn taps”.

Books: Don't throw away the kids previous years note books if half used. You can use the blank pages for current years rough work. Or remove all blank pages from all notebooks and get then bound to form a new rough book. Instead of giving away the previous years text book to the raddiwala, give them to a library or charitable institution.

Opt for E-Statements: Today most banks, credit card companies, mobile phone operators have options for receiving e-statements rather than paper statements. Opt for these. It's easier to “file away” too as it does not take us storage.

Transport: Many places in India do not have a good public transport system. So it's all well to say “use public transport”, but it's not always feasible. If you are using your car often to go some place then offer a lift to others in your building / locality going the same way or share a rickshaw / taxi. Due to the dust and humidity it's almost impossible to arrive in a good shape with the car air conditioning off. So at least on the way back home, when presentation is not that important, switch off the car air conditioning. Avoid taking rickshaw / taxi to close distances like markets and local shops. Try and walk instead. You'll get your exercise and save fuel.

Energy: Use CFL's. Switch off main switches for TV, DVD, microwave, computers, washing machines etc when not in use. We have so many appliances these days that it makes a difference. In my case it made a difference and my energy slab came down and so I'm paying much less now. Switch off lights and fans when not in use.

Kids: Most schools already teach about recycling. You too can enforce these things at home. When you are recycling something let the kids know. Kids follow what they see.

This is what I can think of at the moment. Hope it helps.