BENGALURU: Leading a zero-waste lifestyle often comes with the notion that it is either too expensive or difficult. But a new online course by Bare Necessities Zero Waste Solutions aims to help make your journey to a zero-waste lifestyle easier.
Recently launched on January 27, the 30-day course contains a mix of expert insights, educational material and DIY videos to help you incorporate changes you can make both on a personal level and communal level.
“There are innumerable problems with how the world is functioning today but with this course, we wanted to break it down to areas people can actually relate to,” explains Tim de Ridder, a sustainability consultant and education officer who also helped in designing the course.
“You can think of it like 10 different buckets,” adds Mehul Manjeshwar, the head of marketing at the company, adding that the different areas considered are gifting, occupation, fashion, home care, kitchen use, and so on.
The self-paced series, consisting of videos that are around 10 minutes long, looks at both small and big changes one can implement in their lifestyle.
For example, the occupation portion looks at how stationery (from plastic pens to ink pens) can help bring about sustainability there, whereas the city-wide segment looks at how one can join various action groups for climate change, rely more on public transport or segregate waste.
With an aim to provide a good balance, the expert-led insights and educational material is also supported by fun DIYs, such as making your own toothpaste. For experts, the team has reached out to people across all fields, including a wellness expert. “They talk about how every element, from root to stem, of food can be incorporated so as to not have any wastage,” explains Sahar Mansoor, the founder of the company.
“A course like this helps one gain perspective and objectivity, while understanding their waste activity better,” says Ridder. Agrees Manjeswar, who says the biggest takeaway from this would be knowing that one can be a part of the solution, should they choose to.
“I tried to be sustainable in both my travel and occupation but through working on this course, I realised other ways in which I can lead a more zero-waste lifestyle. For example, instead of a chemical laden all-purpose home cleaner, I’ve tried to make my own bio-enzyme alternative to use,” he says. Currently, registrations for the first batch of the course are open till February 10 and is priced at Rs 699.
“But we will introduce a second batch in March or April,” adds Mansoor.