Clean champions

A couple in Himachal Pradesh trains teachers and students to promote zero-waste and sustainable living practices 

- RAJA MUZAFFAR BHAT

AT SHRUTI and Abhishek Taneja's house in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, nothing goes to waste. All food scraps are used as compost in the garden. Wrappers and polythene bags, if ever brought home, are tightly packed inside soft-drink bottles after use. Each bottle can hold 250 wrappers, and once full, they are donated to construction sites that use them to fill plinths, or to cement kilns that use them as fuel. Chemical disinfectants, detergents and shampoos that can affect the quality of land and water are replaced with alternatives made from biodegradable soap nut.

Such simple practices can have a great impact on protecting the environment, particularly if all households follow them.