BENGALURU: Face masks from items you have at home; a floor cleaner made with baking soda, white vinegar, essential oils and water; an epsom salt and water natural mosquito repellent... A new e-book by a city-based firm gives ‘DIY recipes’ to help someone get a better idea of how they can reuse, repurpose or recycle things they have in their pantry. Priced at Rs 300, the book, brought out by Bare Necessities, a company that offers zero-waste solutions, includes over 25 recipes that make leading such a lifestyle easier.
“The lockdown has seen many people try their hand at cooking and baking. The e-book aims to show them how things lying around at home can be used to strive for a chemical-free and low-waste lifestyle -- with skin care, arts and crafts, home cleaning solutions,” says Mehul Manjeshwar, chief marketing officer. The e-book complements the team’s other new initiative – Bare Thoughts, which was launched last month.
According to founder Sahar Mansoor, the blogs, webinars and podcasts they’ve been releasing under this are “casual, unfiltered, bare thoughts and conversations on new ideas.” For example, their first podcast had a conversation with Asha Scariya, the chief creative officer at People Kraft – a sustainability-focused enterprise. Talk points included gender equality, transparent and ethical supply chains, and environmental sustainability. The next one featured a Germany-based collective, Hands.On.Matter.
“We wanted to look at grassroot initiatives around the world since they are the ones that need to be highlighted at the moment,” says Mansoor, adding that upcoming podcasts, which go out once a week, will have conversations with people involved in making board games and another Germany-based organisation that works with rescued food to repurpose food waste. Timed between 20 and 30 minutes, they will continue to be a post-lockdown feature as well.
While the current economical situation calls for increased sales, Mansoor felt that it would be insensitive at the moment. Instead, the team chose to roll out free online resources to make learning more accessible to everyone. “More and more people have been taking cognizance of the birds outdoors or how unpolluted the air has been with the lockdown in place. So now was the perfect time to capitalise on spreading knowledge,” she says, adding, “The biggest takeaway for people can be that they too can be a part of the solution.”