E-mail me at this address: panditji@cseindia.org

Dear Panditji,
I am a product designer, working in a Delhi-based firm, developing a range of products with recycled paper.

I wanted to know if terracotta products were eco- friendly. How sure can we be about using clay as an environment- friendly material and why?

Rajinder
Via Email

Dear Rajinderji,
Terracotta products are made from fired clay. But clay is a more eco-friendly material since it a natural resource. Clay controls most of the properties of soil. It has a very high capacity to retain water and several nutrients in the soil. Rich in minerals like silicon, aluminium and phosphates, it is a major force behind binding earth's topsoil. Besides its nutrient value, it also has high plasticity level and is resistant to heat. It takes form with very little effort, and its fragility allows it to be constantly renewable. Clay has thus been the perfect vehicle for Indian creativity through the ages - from a toy horse to a real house.

A fistful of clay means a lot for artisans, like the ones of the famous Kumartoli in Kolkata. The potters here eke out a living by making pots, toys, ritual figures, craft and cooking utensils, from clay; and this tradition has existed since the seventeenth century. The terracotta Bankura horse of Bengal among these is the most famous one moulded from the rich alluvial clay found in the state's rivers.

But clay art is threatened today, as the raw material is depleting. Despite the limited supply of clay, its demand is very high, specially in making bricks. Their indiscriminate extraction of clay without taking an effort to conserve the topsoil has a huge environmental cost. Clay bricks are made in kilns. The kilns burn clay on lands, whose process not only diminishes the topsoil (that supports plant life) but also its nutrient quality. And it would take about 100-400 years to form 10 millimetres of topsoil and over 3,000 to 12000 years for 30 mm. You would lose about 34,104 hectares of prime agricultural land in, when the total agricultural land in India is 187 million hectares of land. A better option for making eco-friendly products is mud.

Dear Panditji,
It is inspiring to go through the 'Muck Mail' section in GT. On my way to school every morning, I pass by a huge open land. It is dumped with all sorts of trash and junk. It is nauseating to see such a sight early in the morning.

I have tried to create awareness among neighbours and friends in my locality by telling them to recycle the biodegradable waste into manure. I've also tried telling them how unhygienic it is to live amidst filth in one's own neighbourhood. It worked for a week or two after I asked them to watch a Hindi documentary film, Chaka Chak. Our school encourages us to take up such initiatives and we took them to watch the movie in a film festival organised here, in Nepal.

However, the condition hasn't changed yet. All are also acquainted with the fact that waste is hazardous to our health and the environment. But no one is willing to do anything about it. I strongly feel that if we work together we can work out this problem through a simple solution.

Alina Pokhrel
Kathmandu, Nepal