Zero Waste Interview Series - Ravi Gulati, New Delhi, India

An interview with Ravi Gulati, founder of the New Delhi-based NGO, Manzil, for an upcoming documentary on waste. Some excerpts:

"The root of the problem is that we're not looking at a relationship with nature in the right spirit....In nature there is no waste....In nature, every output is an input for another process, while with human wastes, there are things, especially more and more now with so-called development, that are not inputs for anything else. In fact they are a sink problem that you don't know what to do with."

"...Even if you want to make a big impact, and therefore a lot of people have to do that thing, it starts with you yourself. If there is some action you're not taking yourself, you can't get even one person to convert to that....you have to do it in your own life."

"...There is a very important distinction between the problem of garbage disposal and the problem of garbage generation....Beautification means that we should throw our garbage into the dustbin -- that's what we teach all our children. That is garbage disposal problem. The West has solved this problem...their cities are clean....It's a very efficient system, it takes garbage away from your site, you can't see it, it's not a problem....however, the real problem, which is at the foundation level, is not garbage disposal, it's garbage generation. What is human activity doing in terms of creating garbage?...You have the exactly opposite situation between the West and [a place like] India, where there may be garbage strewn around - but how much garbage are you generating, per capita, and compare it to garbage being generated, per capita, in a place like the U.S. -- it'll be at least ten times in the U.S. Now of course it's not looking dirty (in a place like the U.S.), because you put the garbage somewhere else. But where is that garbage going? There is no such place as away. It is being dumped somewhere, and it is causing problems there. It's just that you're not seeing it. It's an ostrich-like attitude: there's danger in front of you, you put your head in the sand, you can't see danger, you say 'no danger'. That's dumb. Danger still exists. The danger is in that garbage. The danger is not in the fact that you see it or don't see it. So sometimes, the fact that you have dealt with the problem of garbage disposal -- you have efficient mechanisms of garbage disposal -- actually exacerbates the problem of garbage generation, because you don't see the problem, you create more and more garbage. So, maybe it's better that we see our filth right in front of our eyes, and not have someone else deal with it!"

"...We have these three R's of the environment: reduce, reuse, and recycle....but we often use the word 'recycle' for all of them....It's important to [distinguish between them]....Recycle is good of course, but it is not as good as reuse. Why? Because in recycle you're still using energy....Where is the energy coming from? Largely through fossil fuels today. We also have a duty to use less energy. One should go for recycling, but not if you have the reuse option, and if you have the reduce option. And in fact I like to have another option added, before reduce also, which is refuse. Say no, you don't want it!"

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Zero
• Waste
• Deer
• Park
• environment
• consumption
• waste

[JTProtocol]

Come check our Zero Waste solution: ZERO WASTE - The JTP Recycling Video

Its the recycling revolution we have all been waiting for!

[khushboowalia]

Ravi Bhaiya is a true hero!

[ThePulsemedia]

very good

[zhujzal]

Thank you for posting this.