Meet my mom friend: Charanya Iyengar

Lead by example: The low-waste life

On the heels of Earth Day, I reached out to one of my greenest friend, Charanya Iyengar., for her low-waste recommendations. Hope you pick up a few tips!

Hi everyone!

My name is Charanya Iyengar and I live in Sugar Land, TX. My husband Vishwas and I are proud parents to two wonderful kiddos, Nirvan (6) and Janu (4) - and our furry baby Elroy 🐶. I work in a child-focused research and advocacy nonprofit and am passionate about enacting system change to address issues that impact our most vulnerable children.

I’ve been on a low-waste journey ♻️ for a couple of years now, looking to make even more changes as we go. This has been even more important, as we look to conserve resources during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some thing we’ve been doing in our family:

- Slowly replacing liquid bath soaps with bar soaps. We’ve done this for the adults, but want to do it for the kids soon. 🧼

- We hide away the paper towels as much as we can, using machine-washable cloth for countertop cleaning, etc. 🧺

- We totally avoid plastic bags and use reusable bags for grocery shopping and even to regular clothing stores. 🛍️

- We are on a mission to fully eliminate our single-waste use. For example, we’ve replaced dryer sheets with wool dryer balls. 🧶

- While on the topic of laundry, we’ve reverted to powder detergent that comes in cardboard boxes instead of buying plastic detergent bottles. 👚

- For Elroy’s waste, we use biodegradable bags, but if he poops in the backyard, I try to just scoop and flush down the toilet. 💩

- I've been wanting to install bidets in all my bathrooms, and the toilet paper hoarding once the shutdowns started propelled me to get this project done, and I love it! 🧻

These are just some of the things we’re doing in and outside of our home to be more environmentally-conscious. There are so many great ways to get our children involved in low-waste living, but I think exposing them at a young age is key. My hope is that my kids grow up with these habits and being environmentally aware becomes a way of life for them.