The "Serial" Initiative

We plan to spread the message of “Reduce Reuse” plastics with the aid of a popular serial in the coming months. The idea is simple-
Use a medium which reaches out to a big audience – A television serial.
Use comedy – Ads the element of humor to the underlying serious message.

The Reason for the “serial” initiative –
Over time we have formed a perception that what doesn’t affect us today will never affect us anyway. This perception, call it shortsightedness or call it ignorance, we believe can be done away with only if people are made aware of what is going to hit them in the future.
A plastic cup - a supposed hygienic way to drink our water/ tea takes 80 years to degrade. If it’s not affecting you now think about the plastic cups thrown by mankind each day- The number which easily goes into millions is startling.

If you think it’s all being collected and recycled, think again. Recycled plastic costs 4 times as much as a virgin plastic. Do you truly believe “businesses” will go the recycling way until a “cheaper” alternative is here?

Through this serial we hope to educate people about how we can use alternatives. We also hope to educate people about the benefits of reusing plastic bags.

Sure enough every comedy serial deserves its fair amount of word of mouth publicity. This will further aid in spreading the “Reduce reuse” message.
We shall keep you posted about the progress we make here. Until then..

Save the Earth - a slideshow

Here's an informative slideshow

Beach Bummed

Bus load of enthusiasm: From Aksa cleanup

Forty 8th grade students, one teacher and ten other volunteers (family, friends and colleagues) made their way to Aksa beach located in Malad, Mumbai on 8th February 2009. Our mission, like that of several others before us, was to ‘Clean Up’ the beach. This was the first initiative of Mumbai Rewind — a concept whose viability relies on the philosophy ‘Be Aware, Be the change, Cause a change’.

We intend to take Mumbai back to its glory days. When the traffic was managed, the pollution level wasn’t too high and the population was largely aware of their surroundings.

Pep talk: Video on Aksa cleanup

The purpose of the Aksa Clean up drive was not only to make the beach a little cleaner but also to make people aware of how we are damaging our environment each day. Ten students were asked to study a “fact sheet” which contained information like “one plastic cup takes 80 years to decompose” and solutions like “use earthen cups instead”. After the students were reasonably confident about the facts and the solutions, they walked up to strangers on the beach and imparted their new found knowledge to them.

The Great Aksa trash pile (collected by us - around 150 kgs of it): From Aksa cleanup

We collected approximately 150 kg of garbage from the beach in a span of 1 hour. The beach which stretches for around 2 km still didn’t look clean. Knowing the extent of filth on the beach we estimate that 500 people working tirelessly for 4 hours could probably make the beach a lot cleaner. Presently there are only two BMC sweepers who work for a few hours a week at the beach.

The trash at the beach comprised chips bags, chewing tobacco packets, toothpaste tubes, slippers, duffle bags, chuna tubes, cigarette packets, plastic bags of various shapes and sizes, newspapers, cardboard boxes, tooth brushes etcetera. We were shocked to find plastic bags embedded so deeply in the sand that we had to dig them out.

MUMBAI REWIND: The kids wanna say... From Aksa cleanup

The following week the students were taken through a feedback session where we discussed about what they felt about the drive and in what other ways we could help to save our environment.

We are determined to avoid the ubiquitous, ever so easy to use plastic bag and convince others likewise. If you share a similar passion and wish to be part of the change, do email us at mumbairewind@gmail.com

- Karthik, edited by Averil

Raise your non-plastic cup

Most organisations provide refreshments for their employees in plastic/Styrofoam cups. On an individual level using 1 or 2 cups a day seems insignificant, but let’s do some simple math here and see how it adds up:

• Say you work for 5 days a week, using on an average 2 cups a day (I'm positive the usage is way more than that)
• That would mean using 10 cups a week and 40 a month.
• So a single person uses 480 cups a year.

Still think that’s a small amount?

• Consider a midsize company with 1000 employees... that's 480,000 cups a year.
• A city like Mumbai has at least 1000 such companies... that's 480,000,000 cups a year
• Say a cup weighs a meager 5gm... that’s 2,400,000,000 gm or 2,400,000 kg of plastic a year — all of it going to some landfill!

All because of a measly cup! What a criminal waste!

It does not make economical sense for the company either. A cup costs Rs. 0.40 per piece, which would mean Rs.1,920,000 a year just “thrown” in the trash.

So we decided to educate the people in our respective companies regarding the issue and try to get people to change.

I started small, with my project team of around 100 people. The department heads and managers supported me all along. Information emails were sent, polls conducted, colleagues were educated and in a couple of weeks we saw a huge change in peoples mindsets. They willingly bought their own bottles and ceramic/earthen/ steel mugs to have their refreshments.

We had this featured in the company monthly newsletter. At a 'Green' day that was organized, the center heads were impressed with what we had achieved in our department. This paved the path to take the drive to the entire company. Emails and posters informed people about the harmful effects of plastic. Soon a policy will be in place and plastic cups will slowly make their way out of our corporate lives!

The same argument can be extended to plastic bags that we use without batting an eyelid. It is very easy to carry your own bag while going shopping. Infact it’s even better if that bag is cotton or jute. Small steps like these lead to big changes. Join the revolution…be a part of the solution!!

- Primus, edited by Averil