'Environment protection begins with me'

In 1989 we used discarded tender coconut shells (TCS) to arrest soil erosion on the hill slopes of our hotel. We avoided the use of cement and sand, a concept called as dematerialization in construction. We did not realize then how important this subject will become in the construction industry which is huge consumer of resources which are nonrenewable and source of conflict in many parts of the world including our country.

Few days back, I bought a few tender coconuts and asked the vendor to widen the mouth of the coconut and flatten the bottom, so that it can be kept on the floor for growing edible, medicinal and visually appealing plants in homes and public spaces. I gave him some extra money for processing the TCS. His eyes had lit up. 

The coconut shells were dried, before planting any species in it. A small hole was made at the bottom of the coconut shells to drain out excess water. 

It is a simple idea of responsible consumption. By deriving the residual value of a product, thereby proactively reducing our individual waste footprint and getting a greater value out of it. For example, if we grow coriander leaves the growth cycle is 3 weeks & let us assume, we grow the same 10 times in a year, with each cycle giving us Rs. 10/- worth of produce which gives Rs. 100/- worth of produce in a year. 

I suggested to the tender coconut vendor to share this idea with other buyers to reduce the litter around him with discarded tender coconut shells. In the image below, you can see 3 images of the coconut shells.

In the first image (see top to bottom), the shells are seen to have a wider opening, in the second image, the bottom of the shells are trimmed so they can sit in the right position, and the third image shows a picture of coconut shells growing plants in our balcony. 

The idea can be adopted by millions across the country to give strength to Swach Bharat Abhiyan by collective action leading to NO landfill site! Hopefully, creative people can come out with more ideas to make new products for different uses. Opportunity to repurpose many types of waste in our homes to begin with.

The hotel industry has a great opportunity to display the idea of circular economy by hanging the coconut shell plants very creatively with the help of the horticulture department of the hotel. The TCS stock can come from its own waste stream transforming to wealth!

Appropriately positioned TCS in hotels will attract the eyeballs of diverse stakeholders and can be example of resource circularity and reducing the burden on land fill site which cause distress for communities surrounding the landfill sites.