Killing Evil Trash this Durga Puja

Many Indian families look forward to October and November. It is a time to celebrate goddess  Durga  who depicts strength and courage to win over evil. This is followed by Dussehra festival when we burn the effigies of  Ravan . Diwali is the Festival of Lights when we clean our houses so that Goddess  Lakshmi  can visit our houses.

This year in Millburn, 40 individuals including children came together to celebrate Durga Puja. All clad in our beautiful traditional attires, rehearsed our performances and were ready to show off our ample talents. The group collectively decided that we will cut down on our trash. Zero waste as we know is an aspirational goal, but we were determined to achieve it. Planning started among the organizers on how we should cut down on waste. Many considerations followed, paper or compostable plates? How do we cut down on food waste, this included 3 full meals and snacks? How do we educate food caterer on our mission? We started reviewing our town's  Recycle Coach  app to see the items that can be recycled. It became a project on its own. At one point in time we were overthinking and killing our celebration mood. The point was to enjoy together and appreciate everyone, not to have our brains overworked. We decided to take baby steps keeping in mind the bigger picture. Preparatory meetings to plan the event also included green agenda discussions.

Paper plates were not used as people would have used multiple plates and the wastage would have doubled. We realized that paper plates will not hold our curries and white rice, so it was dismissed. Compostable plates was an option seriously considered. However, running on a tight string, budget purchasing use and throw utensils made little sense. Also our town is still piloting a township composting project so it was not viable to use that option. Most of the items sold as compostable are commercially compostable utensils and plates. Thus finding a facility in NJ can compost them would be difficult. Moreover, all compostable cutlery needs to be BPI certified. We also discussed each family getting their own utensils. However, that seemed bit overwhelming for families with small kids.

Luckily, in Millburn, we have the Bartan Bank (Utensils Bank) run by  eco-ambassador  Ishika Srivastav from the Middle school. We got the entire plates, cups and cutlery set which were enough to cover us all. Plates had to be cleaned after every round. Many families decided to wash their plates individually. Volunteers took turns to wash the dishes, this helped to distribute the work. There was less food wastage as compared to paper plates. As per Indian tradition, food wastage is a strict no as we value each grain on our plate. So kids learnt more how to finish their meals. Small leftovers were finished by their parents and the same plate was reused by the parent very happily. To our surprise for a very nominal donation of $5 to the Bartan Bank, it turned to be hugely successful experiment for the community.

Thanks to the Bartan Bank we were able to reduce plastic use and were also able to complete a big event on shoestring budget.

Approximate Benefit ( in $s)

Number of plastic bottles saved-(1 litre) 32 bottles over two days (cost saving $2 per bottle) =$64

Plastic plates saved 3meals, 3*32 = 96 (cost saving) = $21

Plastic cup saved =96 (cost saving) =$10

Plastic cutlery saved =96 (cost saving) =$10

Total =$105 saved 

minus Bartan Bank fee ($5)

Total saving is $100 which totally worked for our budget.

If you plan to use the Bartan Bank-

-Bring extra aprons for your party, will save your expensive party attire.

-Also get scrubbers, dish cloth for wiping and dish soap from your home.

-You will not be lonely washing utensils, many ladies joined and in fact the party moved to the kitchen chit chatting.

-Assembly line was in use, one person washed the dishes, the other one wiped them and the third stacked them back on the table.

-Don't worry too much if you happen to break a cup, the Bartan Bank is very forgiving.

Our major waste reduction was the plastic water bottles. In our preparatory calls, we asked the families to get their own re-fillable water bottles. If you can, get a filter. We did not purchase small chips packets this time so all plastic wrappers were saved. In case you have to buy them, you could recycle at Target. One trip extra, better to avoid it. We had fruits for kids instead also more healthier.

Other considerations-included giving back the cardboard trays to the vendor for re-use, which they happily took since they use it many times. This way we could role model right practices and kids learn it the practical way. Remember to spilt into multiple families as these trays require a lot of space. Allot for distribution time at the end of the event. We recently found out that aluminum trays are not recyclable as per recycling coach app. So as the food got over, trays were rinsed, wiped and stacked-up to return to the vendors (make them your best friend, after all you gave them business ;) Or we found a better alternative, we will be using the trays to plant marigold since it was used for the deity puja. Just spread the flower as it has the seeds in them. The next puja you will be ready with your own flowers.

There was left over food in the serving trays. In our preparatory calls, we had asked the families to get their takeaway containers. All the left over food was given back to the families. Always get extra takeaway containers, just in case you like the mutton curry a lot ;)

We used paper wipes to clean the spill overs on the table. You can also use cloth scraps. Yogurt containers (Plastic Number 5) are not the preferred recyclable plastic in our town (as compared to #1 and #2) and thus ended up in the trash cans. You could look for recyclable yogurt options. Aluminum tray covers which were soiled and difficult to clean. Some left over food and one whole white rice tray that couldn't be used because of color spill. All these items made our trash generated to 7 gallon. Compare this to last year when we had 4, thirteen gallons of waste generated totaling to 52 gallons.

2021 Durga Puja saved 87% trash this year. Wow!

If you are totally into trash, you could do a trash audit to plan for further reductions in the following year.

Final considerations,  Java Compost  does event based food scarp collection too. This was very last minute information for us. If you are planning a party, contact Java Compost ahead in mind to take away your food scraps. In that case, label the trash cans "compostable waste" and "going to be burnt" . Some education will be required to avoid contamination. Home based composting units will not work since the cooked food will have oils.

Did someone say that washing utensils is only for the ladies? Our party proved it wrong. Many husbands helped to wash the utensils. They waited patiently to get their turn. It was also heart warming to see older kids also wash their plates, true role models for your younger siblings to follow.

In summary, plan green agenda ahead of time. Remember to take baby steps and be proud of them. Maybe start with 1-2 doable items only. Everyone around is eco-friendly, it just takes one/two people to bring it up on the agenda and plan the logistics. EVERYONE chips in, you are not alone! Lets make Goddess Durga happy and save her creation by killing trash together.

Enjoy your festivities!