Odette Katrak is the Co-founder of Beautiful Bengaluru, an initiative driven by Bengaluru-based alumni of XLRI, and IIM-Calcutta, with Namma Bengaluru Foundation as knowledge partner. “To achieve this, we require the support of the public, students and volunteers.”
Squeezed for funds, Beautiful Bengaluru brought in sponsors for educational signs in public places and in Lalbagh to demonstrate how each resident must do their bit.
“Even though funds are still a far cry, our ranks have swelled with concerned residents and students.”
“Beautiful Bengaluru was set up in December 2016. We held an event where we generated excess cash that we decided to use for a social cause. We wanted to do something for the city we live in, and Beautiful Bengaluru was born,” says Odette.
‘Clean-Green-Safe’ remains Beautiful Bengaluru’s motto in all its campaigns and this is brought about with simple habits at an individual level. This initiative looks beyond roads and litter and has lessons for treasures from trash. Excerpts from an interview with Odette
Why do you choose to work at Lalbagh so often?
Reducing litter and waste are high on our agenda. Each Lalbagh flower show has more than five lakh. We thought it is a wonderful opportunity to be able to spread the message of public responsibility. This will be our fourth flower show, working towards a litter-free eco-friendly flower show, and over 50,000 visitors have taken our zero litter pledge – so we do believe we have made an impact with scope to do much more.
What are the main focus points at the Lalbagh show this year?
Action is needed from three categories — authorities, vendors and visitors. Visitors play a key role: to reduce waste and litter, we request visitors to do the following — carry your own water, less mineral water bottles mean less waste generated, carry your own bags, reusable bags means that many lesser single-use bags and finally throw litter only in the bin, not on lawns or paths. If you segregate into dry waste and food waste, it means less waste to landfill.
So vendors too come into the picture here?
Our intent has been to make vendors responsible for ensuring nil litter in their stalls, and not use any banned items be it plastic or fibre bags. If authorities hold vendors down to an agreement and if vendors do their bit, it will make a huge difference. We are pushing for restricted food zones as this has a big impact on litter.
What was your strategy at previous flower shows?
We have had school children taking our zero litter pledge to spread awareness. We helped vendors use eco-friendly products and made sure of composting on the premises. It is disappointing that the measures we bring in during the shows are not sustained year round. Fining for littering and use of banned items was supposed to continue year round. The infrastructure is inadequate, with budgets for cleaning or signage terribly small.
What are your other activities?
Over the last two years, we have spread our message reinforcing simple daily habits for a greener planet. We’ve had videos and posters on saving water, no honking, eco-friendly celebrations, apart from recommending less fireworks, less plastic/foil gift wrapping. We’ve been driving home the need to reduce consumption and value the earth’s resources, be it water or paper with the mantra of “Use less, Reuse more.”
Our Treasures from Trash contest, started in July, was one way of getting people thinking about how we can reduce trash by consuming less and converting waste into useful items.