Technology has made life easy and convenient in the 21st century. Shopping online for phones and groceries has helped you allocate more time to your hobbies and interests. WhatsApp has helped you revive lost connections with friends and family. Facebook and Instagram have helped you flaunt your fancy vacations and ostentatious meals. And Siri and Alexa have been good friends. They will never leave your side even if you want to snap ties. This dependency on technology will only increase in the coming years.
The pace at which technology is advancing is unthinkable. Soon AI may outsmart humans, but for now let us think about the benefits of technology and how it is helping people. But is it also helping the planet?
Is technology creating a healthy environment for earth to sustain? Sustainability should be our primary concern as climate change is no longer a distant reality. Glaciers are shrinking, heat waves are becoming more common, polar bears are losing their habitat. To improve the life of our planet, we must act now. Thankfully, technological innovations are saving the environment, but more participation is needed to make a bigger change.
ADVANCED RECYCLING
To better manage landfills and open-dumping grounds, waste must be recycled. The recycling industry is working tirelessly and making use of technology to reduce waste. But that’s not enough. More and more people need to be aware of how recycling works and how it can contribute towards a sustainable environment.
Deluxe Recycling (India) Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based organisation, has been in the recycling business since 1999. It provides environment-friendly solutions of dunnage option to various organisations and industries. “As a company, our conscious effort is to save the environment by providing an extraordinary product made of recyclable chipboard and giving a better option for wood or plastic pallets,” says Jignesh Shah, director, Deluxe Recycling (India).
He points out that recycled products not only reduce the cost of the end-users but also give a higher level of product to product consistency, integrity performance, reusability and industrial sterility.
Shah believes that there is a greater need to create awareness towards the environment and working on solutions rather than just eliminating certain products. Talking about plastic ban in India, Shah says that banning single-use plastic is one of the solutions to curb it but not the only one.
“We seriously need to understand how recycling works and, most importantly, opt for recycled products, or else the entire point of recycling is diminished. As an individual living in society, every person must ask the question, ‘Where is my waste going?’ If you don’t ask, you will never know what damage your small actions are causing to the environment,” he points out.
CLEAN VISION
With a vision of a better India and to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Abhishek Gupta launched Clean India Ventures in 2015. “We are on a mission to reduce the pollution footprint of India and contribute towards a cleaner nation,” says Gupta adding that his company invented a new technology called GWR, now called as GoClean Composter Machine.
This machine recycles organic waste discarded from hotels, temples, restaurants and residential societies into compost at the source. Gupta believes that this machine is a revolutionary solution to tackle urban solid waste problem by substantially reducing the hassles of waste transportation, and hazards of landfill sites.
When it comes to his organisation, Gupta says that it is a decentralised technology to manage organic waste (Horticulture, Food/Vegetable and Flower Waste) into valuable byproducts at the source of generation (parks, temples, societies, townships etc). “Such intelligent waste management can help reduce waste at a faster speed and can help tackle the problem with ease and come up with faster and sustainable solutions,” he adds.
Clean India Ventures has already installed over 70 such composter units all over India and aims to install 200 such units by 2021. However, he points out that technology alone cannot help towards making a greener planet. “Even though we are adopting green technology and technology that will in a way help save the environment, it is not going to make a big difference unless people take it seriously,” he says, adding that even if technology and innovation can take humans in the right direction to save the environment, it is extremely important for each person to work at the individual level. “It is important for every individual to mend their relationship with the environment because it concerns our future and our future should be safe for us and for our coming generations,” he says.
Gupta adds that individuals should take part in initiatives like tree plantations, car sharing rides, public transport etc to ensure a sustainable future for our planet.
SOAKING UP SPILLS
Damaged tankers and offshore drilling have often led to oil floating on the seas and oceans. This has an immediate and long-term effect on the environment. A lot has been said and done when it comes to oil spills, so much so that there are several maritime laws in place to impose fines on marine vessels flouting the guidelines. While this is a good measure, we often overlook the actual problem — oil spills.
Log 9 Spill Containment addresses this problem by creating a number of products for spill containment and oil absorption to clean-up leaks and spills. Dhananjay Sharma, CEO, Log 9 Spill Containment, says that oil spill and chemical leakage have caused severe water pollution. There is a need to find solutions to address the problem at a global scale.
“Oil spills frequently kill marine animals such as whales, dolphins, seals, and fish,” says Sharma. To tackle these problems, the company is working with different variants of graphene (a honeycomb sheet of carbon atoms). “There was a need and demand for finding novel materials/ solutions with chemical inertness, high absorbance, low cost and environmentally friendly properties, so we narrowed our efforts to develop super oleophilic and hydrophobic graphene-based products which could address the problem of oil spills more efficiently,” explains Sharma.
Graphene-based oil sorbent products like pads, socks, pillows and booms can absorb oil, petrol chemicals or other hydrocarbon-based liquids effectively and fast. These products offer a much higher absorbance and are able to absorb oil up to 86 times their own weight which makes them four times better in terms of absorbance weight wise.
The man made problem of oil spill is a major environmental hazard and these absorbents are one of the ways to address the issue. However, there are other technologies and products like skimmers and dispersants which also play a major role in oil spill containment.
“All these technologies and a lot of human effort are required to clean an oil spill. However, the negative impact of major oil spills is still evident in affected areas because of which the ultimate solution will come from moving towards innovative and renewable sources of energy,” says Sharma, adding, “If we take care of our environment, things will move in the positive direction. Even small efforts at an individual level when combined with the collective will create a positive push for our environment.”
PLAY WITH PURPOSE
Dropledge, a social cause-based technology initiative, believes in the philosophy: ‘Where play is purpose’. Sonia D’Souza-Bhavsar, founder, Dropledge, explains that the platform creates a positive impact towards environmental concerns without making it preachy yet triggering the subconscious to enable actions.
Talking about how it all started, she says, “A simple dinner table conversation with my 83-year-old grandfather on the harm that humans have caused to Mother Nature got me nervous and thinking of the pollution and destruction that my little son would inherit as his future. I was determined to make a difference, so I started collaborating with like-minded friends to create Dropledge.”
Dropledge users take a pledge which results in real actions, like opting for substitutes than using harmful products and supporting NGOs working towards this cause.
Creating awareness of plastic pollution in oceans is one of the areas they are focused on. “Living oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce climate change impacts. The diversity and productivity of the world’s oceans is a vital interest for humankind and our security, our economy and our very survival,” says Bhavsar.
She points out that an interactive approach combined with technology will help people understand the dangers of plastic. “An interactive approach combined with technology can be key in bringing a change in the way people look at current issues since technology has a subtle but long lasting effect on users’ behaviour and attitude through affecting their subconscious. We have used this approach to show the actual effects of plastic pollution on marine life and the way it degrades the oceanic ecosystem, and also has an adverse impact on human lives.”
It has been proven that gamification can build bonds, trust and cooperation. “It has also been proven through a third party research validating more specifically the intention of Dropledge to drive its purpose where we have seen 4.7 times increase in users who have confirmed to ban single use plastic from their daily lives after interacting with the platform. That’s the power of technology and the combined effect of interactivity,” Bhavsar concludes.
HOW OCEAN HEROES WORK?
- In Ocean Heroes — Make Ocean Plastic Free by Dropledge, the player partners with 5 Ocean heroes characters to reduce plastic from our oceans.
- In each of the 5 garbage patches (that have been formed around the oceans of the world ) — throughout the levels in the game — the player not only collects plastic trash but also saves fishes, turtles and other sea animals.
- The player can maximise their score, earn credits and be on top of Google Play Leader Board by collecting plastic pollutants (set targets) in minimum time. The more fishes they save, the higher they score.
- Throughout the game, users can take daily pledges and create actions for real to stop plastic disaster that’s plaguing the planet.
- They can also show their support by contributing to Dropledge’s charity partner SagarShakti.
