Global Recycling Day: TV celebs talk about ways to recycle and things they reuse at home

While the pandemic has once again brought our attention to recycling and upcycling concepts, many are trying to bring in these aspects in their daily lives in small and big ways. Recycling is not just an earth-friendly habit that can keep our environment clean, conserve natural resources and cut down on pollution, but also a pivotal way to secure our future and benefit the economy. On Global Recycling Day, today (March 18) we spoke to TV celebs on how they are working around this concept in their day-to-day lives.

Recycling has to be an important part of our lives. Be it pandemic, global warming or a sudden increase in the levels of pollution, we have witnessed it all and have seen its adverse effects as well. We must try living a sustainable life by adopting the habit of recycling and upcycling. Talking about practising recycling in my daily life, I have started using milk cartons for growing small plants and containers of ice cream to preserve food materials.

The pandemic and the lockdown made us realize that we don’t need too many things and have cluttered ourselves with it all, be it clothes, electronics or other products. I've made recycling a part of my life. I’m an ardent coffee lover and enjoy having many cups of coffee in a day. I used to use these pods for coffee and now, I have got these new pods that can be reused and I also opt for pods that can be recycled. Using reusable vegetable bags instead of plastic bags, properly segregating waste and saving water are some other major aspects that I’ve introduced in my daily life. Be it drinking water or water used for cleaning, everything is measured and nothing is wasted or thrown away.

While some believed in the long-term benefits of recycling and upcycling, the pandemic forced them to take up this aspect more seriously. I have been practising recycling since my childhood. I pour the water used to keep cut veggies, lentils, and rice in my plants, decorate old cartons and use it to stock toiletries and other essentials. Also, I have been using newspapers and coloured papers to decorate shelves and I believe in upcycling my wardrobe as often as possible.

I have always believed in the power of recycling and have been an ardent advocate of the same even before the pandemic. As I love to do up every corner of my house, I ensure to decorate used old glass bottles and recycle them by using them as flower vase or an antique vase. During the lockdown, I ensured to use cotton bags and cloth-based bags instead of plastic bags as they are nature-friendly and can be easily rewashed and ready to use the next time.

The pandemic has taught us the value of recycling and upcycling to not just help the environment but if done in the right way, it can spruce up even the most mundane space of your home and life. For me, recycling and upcycling was the way to go before the pandemic. Over the years, I have always used old clothes to make cloth bags which I use to buy groceries and daily essentials. Sometimes, I also use wrappers of chocolates to make small art pieces and often use the containers given during food deliveries to preserve other food materials and household stuff.

Recycling has become a very important part of my life post lockdown because it taught me the importance of living with limited resources and how skillfully one can recycle and upcycle things available to them. I have started using the skin of veggies and fruits as compost in my garden, using more cloth bags and reduced the use of plastic to a great extent.