With the coming of Diwali, Eco Karma has come up with an excellent alternative to crackers. Eco-friendly crackers. It will pleasantly surprise one when its Seed cracker bursts like regular crackers. The more significant impact is, of course, on the environment as these seed crackers are non-pollutant. They make the seed cracker of recycled newspaper with seed in between. An innovation by the self-help group Gram Art project, it is just like a seed bomb with comparatively less nuisance value. These are usually enjoyed by kids to burst by crushing with a stone. We can sow the seeds in the soil to grow into a plant. They have varieties in it: coriander tikli, Laxmi bomb, phoenix chakkar, hemp bomb, Microgreens ladi, golden shower and cucumber rockets all are environment friendly.
Dehradun based Ritika Sadana- founder of “Eco Karma” has a motive to promote sustainable living. She has been passionate about nature, animal welfare, social welfare, women empowerment since long. The idea behind Eco Karma has been derived from social welfare. She began working with Waste Warrior NGOs and volunteered with several organisations that support nature and empowers local women to promote their eco-friendly product. Later she launched her own ecological range of products in June 2019, whose 50% of the profit is used for animal welfare. Eco karma has many products like newspaper pencils, bamboo toothbrushes, recycled paper pens, bamboo and wheat straws, coconut shell products etc. these all products are biodegradable.
“Upcycling of products upholds environment. Products which are not upcycled get into the landfills and destroy soil and take forever to degrade. Eco karma upcycles fabrics and coconut shells. They make scrunchies, curtain tie, pouches and soap trays out of them. Recycling reduces an enormous amount of waste sent to landfills, prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials.” said Ritika Sadana in a conversation with the EarthView.
“Recycling can be built in our habit, it is just that we are too lazy to adapt it. I use paper cuts for packaging rather than using bubble wrap. I ask my friends and neighbours to share their cardboard waste, which I reuse it for the packaging of my Eco karma products. I believe fancy packaging gives pleasure for two minutes but creates non- biodegradable waste forever. Recycling helps nature, climate and our environment to heal, and it starts with us as every little step counts,” says Ritika.
Challenges are faced as Eco-friendly products do not have a lot of consumers and the costing of the product. They try to sell it at a minimum price, but plastic products are cheap, so it is hard for people to switch. There are already established big companies which sell plastic products with branding and trust if they help and promote local business there would not be any problem. We can undoubtedly revive the planet.
Rather than utilising non-degradable products in the everyday schedule, one must supplant them with eco-friendly products. We have a whole scope of ecological companion items that cause nature to mend. Eco karma helps nature, and it also helps many communities scattered in every part of India, upholds self-help group and empowers women to earn from their beautiful art skills. It’s just perseverance that can make a tremendous difference. Let’s gift a greener planet to the next generation.
Happy Eco-Friendly Diwali!!
Written by: Vartika Prasad
A very good initiative. A step towards sustainability.