At the end of the 90s, the zero waste movement was developed in the West. Its main purpose was to reduce waste. The movement had five basic principles: reduce consumption of food, refuse the products that are harmful for the nature, give new life to unused items, reuse items as much as possible, and recycle organic waste.
Two decades later, the principles of this movement are quite suitable as a guide to a green lifestyle. In Kyrgyzstan, green lifestyles are yet to be implemented. Greenegy movement, which fights for a green economy, is being implemented among young people. How to lead a green life? What principles should be followed and why? We will try to figure it out.
As soon as winter comes to Kyrgyzstan, air quality gets worse immediately. As of December 17, according to IQAir, the air quality index in Bishkek was 199 AQI – unhealthy. One of the causes of air pollution is emissions from cars, with air pollution from motor vehicles amounting to 70-80 per cent of total emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere.
Emissions can be reduced by using a bicycle or a scooter, whenever it’s good weather. Thus, you can reduce harm to the environment and improve your health. If you are a car enthusiast, you have a great option – to shift to electric cars or public transport.
Unfortunately, electric cars are not very popular in Kyrgyzstan, and their number is very limited. Moreover, the car fleet in the country consists mainly of used cars.
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By sorting your waste and disposing of it depending on the material, you can reduce emissions of harmful substances into the air and help solve one of the biggest environmental problems in the world – to cope with climate change.
The European countries and other developed states have been practising separate waste collection for a long time in order to preserve the environment. According to the statistical data, it takes 180-200 years for one plastic bottle to decompose, aluminium items need 500 years, and glassware need about 1000 years.
To solve this global problem, plastic, glass, metal, household waste and paper are sorted separately. Thereafter, these materials can serve as recyclables and can become useful items made of recycled materials.
In Kyrgyzstan, the question of waste disposal has been raised since 2018, but you can hardly see separate bins. In 2019, two Kyrgyzstan-based developers took the initiative – Ainura Sagyn and Aimeerim Tursunalieva. They launched Tazar app, which purpose is to reduce waste going to landfill. Thus, handover of recyclables in the republic is being solved. The app helps urban residents find locations on the map of Bishkek where recyclable materials would be reused, and also find sites where plastic and glass bottles, cans, polypropylene products and other items are sold.
See also: Five Widespread Myths About Ecology (link)
The use of disposable plastic bottles also does harm to the environment. The reason is they decompose for a very long time – depending on the production technology, its decomposition time varies from 400 to 700 years.
Instead of plastic bottles, you can use one reusable bottle – get yourself a thermos or a sports water bottle, which will be your consistent personality.
You can use a plastic bottle repeatedly, however, you should know its properties. Thus, a bottle marked “1” (PET or PETE) is recommended for single use only because its long exposure to the sun or when oxygen was used, they emit toxic substances.
The safest bottles are considered bottles with marks 2, 4 and 5 (PP). Thus, a plastic bottle marked 5 is made of polypropylene, which can be reused. This kind of plastic is usually used for food containers and reusable bottles.
The impact of polyethylene bags is as significant as of plastic. The time of decomposition of polyethylene bags is 5 to 15 years. But if polyethylene gets into water, the time increases and persistent pollution develops.
On the average, the time of use of a bag is 12 minutes. Afterwards, it gets into a bin, polyethylene decomposes into microplastics and can lead to chemical and physical poisoning. Its granules may be eaten by animals, and they emit substances hazardous for the people – dioxins, which cannot be removed from the body.
This issue may be solved by not using polyethylene and using reusable ecobags made of fabrics instead.
The sustainable consumption of natural resources such as water, heat and electricity can help save natural resources. Otherwise, it can lead to environmental problems at the global level, and afterwards to the unavailability of resources and tariff escalation.
Thus, if electricity is used irrationally, coal, gas and oil are used, too, and their emissions lead to smog formation. As a result, when fuel is burned and forests are cut out, the atmosphere has concentrated greenhouse gases and the natural balance is disrupted. All these lead to the overall climate change.
You can keep to the following simple rules to help preserve natural resources:
- Turn off the lights whenever necessary;
- Do not use sockets in vain;
- Turn off devices in standby mode. Thus, such devices as a TV set may consume up to 3-10 W. Four such devices may consume 300-400 kWh per year;
- Replace general lamps with LED lamps. The operating life of such lamps is at least 5 times higher, and consumption is lower. During its lifetime, a LED lamp pays off 10 times;
- Turn off water whenever necessary, when brushing teeth, taking a bath or shower. According to the statistics, up to 17 litres of water is leaked every week;
- Install a water meter – it will decrease your cash expenses for water and make you consume water reasonably;
- Install aluminium radiators instead of cast iron radiators because thermal efficiency of the former is 2 times higher;
- Buy appliances with high category of energy efficiency – A++ is considered the highest.
Using household chemicals, which contain alkali and parabens, is not only hazardous to the environment, but also have negative impact on the human health. 90 per cent of laundry products available in stores contain phosphate, chlorine, and other non-degradable chemical mixtures. It is harmful to human health – it may cause allergic reaction on skin or nasal mucosa.
Phosphates are even more hazardous to the nature – when they get into reservoirs from the sewerage, they turn them into wetlands.
The solution is to use eco-friendly and natural household cleaners and:
- To grow houseplants that help purify the air and absorb toxins;
- To not use melamine, aluminium, Teflon, polystyrene PS (6), PVC dishware;
- To use dishware made of natural materials – wood, ceramics, glass and cast iron.
More than 80 billion clothing items are produced worldwide every year, 1/4 of which are recycled. However, the clothing industry is among top 3 pollution sources of nature. The solution is the reasonable consumption of things.
You can give new life to old things, thereby reducing waste. Old clothes, for example, can be placed to second-hand shops or given to the those in need.
Today, world clothing brands are also trying to follow these principles, for example, the H&M brand has created a collection from old things that buyers leave in special baskets. In response, the brand gives a 15% discount to its customers.
Eco-houses are residential buildings complying with all principles of ecological safety and not using external energy sources. Eco-houses do not have a negative impact on the environment and are comfortable for living. Natural materials are used to build such houses: wood, concrete, stone, metal, glass. Eco-houses usually have a different system of insulation, heating, ventilation and lighting, including a different type of windows.
There are a number of principles that are taken into account in the construction of an eco-house:
- Its thermal insulation shall be based on an environmentally friendly insulation: mineral wool, green wool and other natural resources. Moreover, the following can be used for heating an eco-house:
- a warm floor system,
- photovoltaic solar panels that convert solar energy into electrical energy,
- wind generators that use wind energy for household needs.
- Energy window systems and PVC frames should be installed. This system provides low thermal conductivity.
- The ventilation system ensures a mechanism for heat conservation inside the house.
- Soil heat pumps shall be used for heating.
- Natural resources such as sun, wind and others shall be used for heating and hot water supply.
- Springs or wells shall be used as cold water sources.
See also: Phasing Out Coal: How Real Is It for Kyrgyzstan? (link)
Natural lighting can reduce electricity costs significantly, thereby conserving natural resources. The following may be used for such lighting at home or office:
- heat-saving window systems – it can be triple glazing, inert gas filled windows, low thermal conductivity materials;
- polymer films on windows that reflect infrared rays;
- glass partitions that permit light through and at the same time create protection;
- if possible, replace the wall facing south with a facade made of transparent material.
But the simplest rule for saving electricity and light is to open curtains and blinds on windows so that natural light can enter home and serve as a natural source of heat and light. According to statistics, efficient use of natural light can reduce electricity consumption by 50-80 per cent.
Taking part in litter picks and environmental campaigns, you can help clean the city from litter and clean the air from toxins.
Kyrgyzstan has been taking part in the World Cleanup Day organised by Eco Demi, representative of the international organisation “Let’s Do It World”, since 2017.
This year the republic won first place among 190 countries. Nearly 9.2 per cent (530 thousand) of Kyrgyzstanis took part in the campaign. On that day, three thousand tonnes of waste were collected, including 89 tonnes that were recycled.
This publication was produced as part of the mentorship programme under the Development of New Media and Digital Journalism in Central Asia project delivered by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) with support from the UK Government. It does not necessarily reflect the official views of IWPR or the UK Government