Consumption

Are we ready to coordinate Auroville's food sector?

Zero waste is the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.

Members of Pour Tous Distribution Centre (PTDC), the Auroville community’s food cooperative, have recently been given a new way to monitor their consumption and develop more sustainable patterns.

We can learn quite a lot about a community by observing what its members consume; and even more telling is what they throw away! Whilst living in Europe, I was often quite astonished to find perfectly usable, sometimes even brand new, items discarded in rubbish bins and, on occasion, even felt compelled to rescue an object and find a good home for it!

When the Oxford English Dictionary adds a new term, it’s time to sit up and take notice. In 2015, the term “sharing economy” was added to the dictionary with the following definition: “sharing economy: (n.): an economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either for free or for a fee, typically by means of the internet”.