Father’s Day 2019: This Year Present An Eco-friendly And Waste Free Gift To Your Father, Here Are Some Ideas

New Delhi: Choosing a perfect gift needs more than just a great idea. After all it needs to be thoughtful, useful and in keeping with the tone and tenor of the occasion and the person it is meant for. How about adding another parameter to choosing your gift for Father’s Day (June 16) this year? Being environment-friendly in every aspect of day to day life is a necessity more than ever before. After all we live in times where the very things that are essential to sustaining life on Earth and has been gifted to us in abundance by nature like water and air, are under severe threat from indiscriminate human action. So take the first step and gift something eco-friendly this Father’s Day.

Here’re our top 5 smart gifting ideas for Father’s Day that are also environment-friendly:

1. An Upcycled Bag To Pack All Daily Essentials

A bag that packs in all the daily essentials – from a lunch box, water bottle, to notepads, and laptop, among others and one made by upcycling can be obtained easily from Dwij – a Mumbai based start-up upcycling old denim into bags, accessories, clutches, and other items. Fashionable and useful!

Your father would love to pack his essentials in an upcycled bag

Price Range: Rs. 220 – Rs.1200

Where to buy: Dwij website and social media handles

Also Read: Upcycling Old Jeans Into Funky Bags, Mantra Of This Mumbai Woman Who Gave A Spin To 2,500 Denims

2. Plants Or Greeting Cards That Grow Into Plants

If plants are too straight-jacketed then try greeting cards that can sprout into a plant. Plantables – Agra based start-up makes plantable products like calendars, notebooks, postcards, wedding invitations, visiting card, bookmarks, and other items, including personalised, custom made options.

Gift your Bibliophile dad some plantable bookmarks

For all our products, we use handmade seed paper which is 100 per cent eco-friendly and wood free. Handmade seed paper is a regular handmade paper with seeds infused in it during production. Once used, wet the paper and tear it into half or more pieces. Put it in coco-peat or manure-rich soil and cover it with a light layer of the same. Keep it in air, with mild sunlight. Keep this moist till seeds sprout, says Sumat Nanda, co-founder at Plantables.

A plantable postcard or greeting card that will sprout into a plant will make for a eco-friendly Father’s Day gift

Price Range: Rs. 147 – Rs. 197

Where to buy: Official website of Plantables or social media

Also Read: Calendar To Plant: This Duo From Agra Is Reducing Carbon Footprint And Paper Waste By Infusing Seeds In Paper

3. Eco-friendly Grooming And Hygiene Kit For One And All

If you are dicey about your father’s choice, opt for something as basic and thoughtful gift as eco-friendly grooming and a hygiene kit. Simply pick up an old container or a basket and fill it with eco-friendly and zero waste products like bamboo toothbrush, stainless steel razor, soap bar, shampoo powder, and others. You can shop for eco-friendly products from Everwards – Chennai based brand providing sustainable alternatives to regular plastic products.

On Father’s Day, replace you father’s regular plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush

All the products are available on Everwards’s website and the founders can be contacted through social media as well.

Tip: To further reduce the waste, pack the gift using newspapers or old cloth. Also, if you don’t find a container or basket, buy an upcycled all-purpose pouch and fill it with goodies.

Also Read: Accessible, Affordable, And Relatable: Chennai Based Duo Provides Sustainable Alternatives To Plastic Products

4. Art Created From Waste Materials

If gifting art is on the list then there are some good waste converted to pieces of art to choose from. Mangaluru based Megha Mendon, a final year architecture student, gives new life to old discarded bottles by simply painting them.

With some creativity and colours, a waste bottle can get a new look and make up for a Father’s Day gift

Also Read: Recycling Is The Future’, Lessons From Mangaluru Artist Who Turns Discarded Bottles Into Beautiful Art Pieces

Electronic waste (e-waste) like motherboards, floppy discs, CD drivers, cell phones, and CDs can also be put to creative use. From varied creatures like ladybug, crab, chameleon, to abstract art, there is a lot to choose from. Haribaabu Naatesan, from Mumbai who left his job as the Head of the Animation team at a private firm to set up his own studio, is the brain behind creative, unique and eco-friendly pieces of art.

“Science says that matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed, it can just change in form. As an artist, I change the form of the industrial scrap into art”, says Haribaabu Naatesan

Price Range: Rs. 75,000 – Rs. 2 lakh

Where to buy: Official website of Fossilss

Also Read: Eco-Friendly Art: This Mumbai Based Artist Converts Junk Electronics Into Fascinating Sculptures

5. Zero Waste Travel Kit

A travel kit can be an utilitarian gift and nothing can be better than a zero waste travel kit consisting of basic items including bamboo toothbrush, soap bar, and shampoo bar. Given the problem of single-use plastic you can add other ‘green travel’ essentials like glass or steel water bottle, steel straw, reusable cutlery and tableware so that your father doesn’t use disposable or single-use plastic and add to the plastic waste. Astu Eco, a Bengaluru based start-up deals with biodegradable solutions to single-use plastic and provides zero waste cutlery kit.

This Father’s Day bid adieu to single-use plastic and gift your father a zero waste travel kit

Price Range: Rs. 250 – Rs. 700

Where to buy: Official website of Astu Eco

Also Read: Throwing Your Kitchen Waste Recklessly? Think Again! We Give You 5 Ingenious Ways To Reuse It

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.