By Rini Varghese
Deepveer Wedding aka Deepika - Ranveer wedding had the entire nation wait with bated breaths for their near fairy-talish wedding pictures to come out in the public eye.And when they did, they sure did take the internet by storm. The royal outfits,romance hued dreamy wedding pictures, destination being the picturesque city of Italy ,away from the regular Indian wedding shenanigans indeed did set the bar high when it comes to having a dream wedding.
Apart from Instagrammers going ga-ga over Deepika’s Frida Kahlo post wedding attire, there was something else which caught our eco green heart and eco green eye. It is the use of sugarcane fibre in place of styrofoam as tableware on their D- day reception . Plastic and styrofoam as we know would take half a millenium to decompose whereas plates and glasses made of sugarcane bagasse would decompose in 90 days.
We give them a mighty green clap for bringing the need to go- green in the public eye and making it fashionable as well. We dream of plastic apocalypse day when the use of plastic and its derivatives would be shunned, shamed and brought to zilch. Celebrities of their stature, understanding the serious of plastic problem is immensely commendable .
But is this enough?
No. It’s definitely a start but not enough. Replacing tableware with plastic alternatives would not make your entire wedding green . There are so many other aspects of a wedding such as decorations, napkins, supply of food and drinking water in jars, the way waste is handled, separating dry waste from wet waste, composting wet waste, sending the dry waste to a dry waste collection centre, eco- friendly wedding gifts and list is never ending.
Yes, It’s possible to replace plastic by finding eco friendly alternatives to it. Dr Meenakshi Bharat , the famous green warrior in Bangalore circle had her son’s green wedding planned out from the word go . Decorations were made from fresh flowers ,coconut shells, coir ropes and abandoned plastic bottles and banana leaves. Food was served in steel plates and steel cutlery was used. Hand-printed cloth handkerchiefs were given out instead of napkins. Bio- enzymes made out of citrus peels (essentially mild citric acid ) was used to wash the utensils. Cotton bags and a bottle of haldi (turmeric) were given as return gifts to the guests. Wet waste was composted and the dry waste (hardly any ) was sent to the recycle centre. They successfully managed to conduct a near zero waste wedding by meticulous planning and took into account every aspect of the wedding which could have otherwise used plastics instead.
We hope to see the remaining B- town unwed couples set the bar higher than Deepveer when having their own green wedding ,with higher, louder resounding thunderous green claps .What better way to have a grand wedding when you can compost all your waste and return home after your honeymoon, to begin new life with new life - your fresh compost and what you grow in it.
Additional reading resources: