Sustainable and zero waste wedding

In diversified India weddings vary according to region, religion, community and most of it all, personal preferences of the bride and the groom. There are different types of weddings such as destination weddings, theme weddings, outdoor weddings, indoor weddings and many more. Thus, there are different needs of resources that may be used to the fullest or might end up unused but in waste. Waste can be both organic and inorganic. In addition to this Indian weddings are incomplete without music, dance and lights that cause noise and light pollution at certain levels.

India celebrates around 10 million weddings per year of which about 80% are Hindu weddings.

Wedding is believed to be most extensively ritualistic among all the Indian festivals in an adult's entire life. And as it's once in a lifetime ceremony people end up spending huge amounts of money and bills on this occasion. Hardly people are bothered about what harm they are causing to the environment as they are engaged with their own joy. This sounds rosy and so grand when we speak about weddings but let's see the other side of this grand ceremony.

At least 30% of food is wasted in Indian marriages.

Unlike the olden days where guests are usually seated and food is served to them as per their requirement compared to today's buffet meals where people fill their plates more than their appetite jut for the reason, they don't have to go for another serving, especially children, who end up wasting food.

Types of waste in weddings and their remedies

There is quite a range of waste that can be produced at a wedding depending upon the type and budget of the wedding. But in this article, we will discuss a common idea of having zero-waste weddings, let's see what an ideal wedding waste includes.

On average, an Indian wedding hosting 400-1000 results in around 3 tonnes of waste and some cases even more.

Food waste

As discussed earlier, around 30% of food is wasted at a wedding. While serving more than what could be eaten is a kind of waste on the other hand raw waste produced while preparing or cooking the food for guests is another kind. As a bride or groom did you ever know where this waste goes?

In 2019 a wedding that cost 2oo crores generated 240 quintals of waste in Auli, Chamoli and this was in headlines. There's another wedding where 24000 kg of garbage is generated after 4 days of the wedding celebration and it was dumped by the hillside. It's not just a big wedding even medium and small weddings generate truckloads of waste.

Action

• Make sure the count of guests coming to the wedding and then prepare food accordingly.

• Try to avoid a buffet and better serve people at their table. This will reduce food wastage and avoid spillage by the guests in the dining area.

• Make sure you talk with any NGO or orphanage beforehand so that you can give away the leftover good food.

• And about the raw food waste, it can be dumped in composite pits which could be possibly maintained by a few NGOs in your area.

Plastic waste

There can be different types of plastics used in a wedding such as dinner plates, spoons, glasses, chairs, gift wraps, decorations and many more. Hardly this waste ends for recycling while most of the plastic is dumped in a landfill or nearby city garbage or downside waterbody. Plastic and thermacol plates and cutlery are among the biggest generators of waste at weddings. Though we reduce food wastage, cutlery still remains the same.

Action

• Replace plastic cutlery and plates with ceramic, bamboo or banana leaves which are disposable.

• Instead of plastic glasses use reusable steel or natural decomposable glasses. Try to avoid paper as much as possible.

• Instead of using plastic table runners use jute or cloth runners. In the end, try to segregate dry waste and wet waste so that composting is easier after the celebrations are over.

• For return gifts or souvenirs go for local made. For eg; at a wedding, thank you cards were given kept in an envelope made out of a newspaper that has a wax seal with the initials of the bride and groom.

• Gifts wrapped in jute or cotton cloth (which is available in local markets for low cost) or use old sarees to make the gift bags.

• You can give away seed pots and planters as gifts.

Floral waste

We see beautiful flowers and decorations at weddings are soothing to the eyes but hardly we wonder where they are gonna end up. Decorations add beauty to not just the live wedding experience but also for those glossy pictures you take which lasts forever. Flowers, leaves etc are trash after the wedding which is completely organic material but on the other hand, dried flowers and leaves have several other uses.

Action

• If you must use flowers use locally sourced ones from a nearby market or farmer as this will help the small scale businesses.

• Floral waste can be given away to NGOs who in turn make organic products like dyes, incense sticks and Holi colours from such waste to raise funds by selling them.

Music and light

As told earlier Indian weddings without music and lights are not identified by the majority of the people. But think about how badly do you need them?

Lights at a wedding are called clutter lights that could be excessive to the eyes. If you really need lights try to use decent light shades that are soothing to the eyes.

Well if you are not interested in any fancy lights also would like to cut costs and also would like to take advantage of natural light in those photographs then plan your wedding in the day time, my suggestion is around sunrise or sunset when the sky is at it's best.

Talking about music, there's nothing much to say, just make sure you are not loud enough to bother people and wildlife around you.

Day light

Bonus suggestion.

Invitations are a crucial part of weddings. Though with increasing technology one could opt for e-invites, most of the elderly family members restrict to paper or traditional wedding invitations. If you have no budget limits you can opt for seed paper(contains seed in it) and cotton paper. Seed paper is slightly expensive than regular paper invite but if you manage other resources well buy cutting costs this would be nothing to you.

Crux

If you are a millennial or generation Z, this message is for you. Our planet is under great stress caused by us. You don't have to save it as it can heal by itself if we don't mess with it. Thus, if you really want to bring change to this vicious drama of the human era, plan a sustainable eco-friendly wedding.