City gears up to efficiently tackle waste generated from weddings

Wedding is, undoubtedly, one of the most important events in a person’s life. And we love our big, fat Indian weddings that go on for 2-3 days. Though many are opting for ‘eco-friendly weddings’, the waste generated from a single wedding is so alarming. The trash left behind at every venue is the ugly side of the beautiful day that we often turn a blind eye to. Wedding planners and sustainability experts share with us the ways in which one could efficiently tackle waste generated from a wedding — from flowers to food and decorations.

Sudarshna Pai, a sustainability consultant from the city, says, “People need to understand that zero-waste wedding doesn’t mean that you have to cut down on the number of ceremonies or invitees. Moreover, you need to understand the aspects that go into each ceremony and use as many recyclable items as possible. For example, you can replace flower decor with fabric decoration. Anything that could be reused is the best way to tackle a waste management problem.”

How much ever a family depends on wedding planners, the biggest responsibility lies with the bride and groom. There are a few zero-waste wedding planners in Chennai and if the bride and the groom convey their needs to the planner in advance, half the problem could be solved. “Even if you take a lot of precautionary steps, trash will be generated at any event because of all the ceremonies and people involved. You need to ensure that it doesn’t end up in landfills if it can be put to use,” says Veena Balakrishnan, another sustainable consultant.

Mohammed Asif, the co-founder of GiveAway, which feeds the needy through their online platform, stresses the importance of proper planning. “The excess food at a wedding is unimaginable. Unserved food can be donated to shelters for the homeless, but it needs to be coordinated. The best way to tackle food waste in a wedding is by planning it in advance. Since it is wedding season and many are happening simultaneously across the city, families, event planners and caterers should plan everything well. While you invite people, there should be a rough idea of how many people would turn up and not over estimate,” he says.

Food wastage control is important; it’s a huge problem and it affects all of us. “Catering has now become a thriving business. Most of the caterers only think monetarily. However, we are living in a country where lakhs of people go to sleep without having even one meal. So, the social and environmental aspects also need to be kept in mind while planning a wedding,” Asif adds.

While flowers are the most beautiful part of a wedding, they are also the most wasteful. Either one could replace the flowers with eco-friendly alternatives or opt for something that is reusable. Rekha R Rangaraj of Sumyog Wedding Planners says that flowers like marigold that are widely used for decoration don’t last for long and can be converted into manure. “Once the event is over, we collect the flowers and give them away to people who make compost out of it that can be used as manure. We make garlands with flowers like carnations, orchids and others for some clients, who like to take them once the wedding is over and decorate their houses. Sometimes, instead of fresh flowers, we also make artificial flowers with silk,” says Rekha.

City-based Archana Meiyappan used to collect flowers from a kalyana mandapam near her residence and turn them into compost to be used as manure in her home garden. “Once a wedding would get over I would get a call from the mandapam manager asking me to come and collect the flower waste generated. They would have kept 4-5 bags for me! I would only take marigolds and other flowers that would have been used to decorate the stage. If some people had mixed gold ribbons or non-biodegradable items with the flowers, I would end up having to manually separate them.”

Though it would take up more space, one of the ways to tackle flower waste is by making a huge pit at wedding venues where they could convert it into compost, she concludes.