Another insightful and inspiring personal post from one of our Recycling Ambassadors;

"My background is in teaching and training in the area of health and nutrition- from Yoga, meditation and relaxation classes, to reflexology, managing a health store and my current work as a trainer for a probiotic company, becoming involved in environmentalism was a natural, mindful progression for me. I slowly woke up to the reality of our current climate crisis after reading numerous books and watching documentaries etc. Through this I was moved to change the way I lived my life into a more sustainable model, to live more in line with my morals and ethics and what I now know to be true. I also wanted to spread the message of what I had learned with my peers who I was certain cared but just didn’t know anything about it, because realistically all we are really presented with in our day to day lives is mindless advertising that tries to make us feel inadequate and urges us to buy things, to make us feel better for how that ad made us feel in the first place! Bananas! The real issues are hidden away and kept far from view.

I applied for the Recycling Ambassador Programme programme because I was excited about the face to face quality and the opportunity to really communicate with communities and large groups of people in a variety of different environments. I wanted to make a start, change the status quo, help anyway I could, get involved and be proactive.

The Recycling Ambassador Programme opened up a discourse that badly needed to happen in Ireland, about our infrastructure, our recycling habits, our confusion, our over reliance on single use plastics, our fast paced city lives that can take us away from what’s really meaningful in our lives - connection and community, over consumerism and competition. 

The programme connects people to their local civic amenity centres, bring centres, charity shops, bin providers. People are encouraged to make phone calls find out what services are available, drop in and talk to somebody. It revealed that people care, a lot, about our environment, about our country, but are confused and need guidance.

With my growing awareness I decided I wanted to try and live as if a circular economy infrastructure already exists in our society. I’ve re-examined all aspects of my life working with the 5 Rs: Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot. I am trying to become more minimalist, not partake in fast fashion but instead- swap, borrow, buy second hand or make, a thoughtfully curated wardrobe of items I truly value and love. I am also considering a project where I make my own clothes from recycled fabric, offcuts and organic natural fabrics. I am drastically reducing my waste and learning to live a plastic free life, shopping local, eating organic and also working on reducing food waste. 

I recently completed a zero waste educator course and master composter course and I will be holding workshops on reducing food waste and home composting around the city in the future. Inspired by the course and the magic that is nature I am now also attempting to grow some of my own fruits and vegetables! Environmental gratitude practises giving back to the earth that provides us with so much and asks for nothing in return.. I’m hoping by changing myself it might inspire change in others and if not, at the very least I know I tried my very best to make a difference!"

 Check out Sundara's Instagram account insta_twig for urban sustainability and zero waste lifestyle tips!