I remember growing up in the suburbs of Montréal where as children we were constantly outdoors and totally in touch with nature. My family returned to Mumbai when I was 10 years old and in India at the time when there was no single use plastic. Ready-made foods were rarely available, and if at all they were in butter paper bags and quite fresh – for example sandwiches or potato chips at a movie theatre or even Parle Glucose biscuits. Mumbai was then still a relatively clean city with not too many cars and a far lower population. Milk was available in recyclable glass bottles rationed at Aarey booths and groceries were bought by weight and packed in paper bags often made from recycled newspapers.

13 years later I had become a doctor, Bombay’s population had exploded. Packaged foods were growing, and now a few more things were packed in plastic. Roadside fast food was growing, but even this was served ecologically. Then the milk bags started, and more packaged foods and another 13 years later there were tetra packs. Being a doctor interested in natural forms of healing, I didn't buy the package foods much, but the garbage was growing around me. I started composting the waste in my house and separating all the dry waste so that I could give it to the garbage pickers. I thought that we were so lucky that still have garbage pickers to separate the waste, but we could make their load so much lighter if we could just separate our own waste and give it to them. Our building then started distributing garbage bags to be used daily. Each family could mix all their organic waste with all the rest  and just put it in the bin downstairs neatly tied in plastic. This troubled me but nobody would listen. 

I believe that when people reconnect to nature and to the kind of lives were supposed to live, even just for health, they will be creating less waste just by avoiding packaged food, refined foods, and animal products. Fruits and vegetables and dry groceries can easily be shopped or without any plastic. Not only is this healthy for us but also for the environment. When people understand the effect of chemicals on their health, they automatically buy less personal care and home care products that are full of chemicals. We also teach people to make their own products through cooking classes and Do-It-Yourself classes.

I recently spoke to someone who consciously lives a zero waste life in Mumbai. I thought that was creditable. She told me that she had to change all her eating habits in be zero waste and therefore she is vegan. And we are vegan for health reasons but the natural consequence is low waste. These two lifestyles go hand in hand.