A Dentist from small city with solution towards Zero Waste Cities
May 19th , 2018 | Bhavna Bhargava
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A heartbreaking view of garbage problems in Bangalore
I was born and brought up in a small city, away from the hustle and bustle of the large metros. It has always been a relatively neat and clean city and close to nature. After graduating from Manipal university as a dentist, I worked in clinics and hospitals for a few years in smaller towns and cities before we moved to Bangalore. I was looking forward to explore this beautiful garden city and city of lakes. It was rather heartbreaking to see the garbage problem that the city was struggling with at that time.
A lot of volunteer groups had become active by then and 2bin1bag was getting implemented. Being very passionate about the cause, I started volunteering for my apartment and started reading and connecting with people to understand the issue properly. That was the start of my journey on waste management.
Zero waste life was my own goal
I started looking for solutions to reduce my household waste and find alternatives. My own goal was zero waste life. I have cloth diapered both my kids and never used plastic milk bottles for them - they learnt to drink milk with a steel glass very early on. I started learning a lot from all the groups about wonderful alternatives to lead a natural life. I started reducing the number of chemicals from my daily life - most of the cleaners were replaced by soapnuts and bioenzymes. I started shopping for these cleaners and compost more, donating more and reusing whatever I could.
Plastic ban brought another round of awareness when I learned to refuse all single use plastics and carry my own cutlery and bags. A friend of mine introduced me to the menstrual cup and I couldn’t stop talking about it to my friends and family once I myself converted .I realized that there was lack of awareness about these products so I started taking sessions on composting, sustainable menstruation, natural cleaners etc. Since that time I have continued to raise awareness across communities and corporates. My journey towards zero waste continues, I am still trying to find better options for all my needs.
A solution to zero waste cities
In 2017 I joined Stonesoup, with a passion to raise awareness and make sustainable products accessible to the general public. I can proudly say that in this little time I have learnt how to run a business, it’s Operations, handle accounts, sales and lots more. Every day is a new day and I continue to learn something new from everyone around me. Stonesoup has been a lovely journey and a lot of learning. As they say every start up is born to find a solution to a problem and I hope we find a solution to zero waste cities and a leave a greener planet for our future generations
The author of the story is “Bhavna Bhargava, CEO of Stonesoup" and you can reach out to her https://stonesoup.in
InwasteR is only a platform to share WaStory and the views and experience are purely of the author.