India Minister's daughter hosts eco-friendly, zero-waste, vegan wedding

This one-of-its-kind environmental friendly, vegan and zero waste wedding was hosted by, Soumya Reddy, daughter of Karnataka's transport minister R Ramalinga Reddy.

Weddings and receptions are occasions which generate the highest amounts of waste. Most think it to be a one-time affair and continue to pollute the environment.

Soumya who is an animal rights activist and environmentalist, consciously made an effort to host a 'Green' environmental friendly wedding reception which could set a yardstick for the rest. 

She employed over 150 staff members from Hasiru Dala. This Bangalore based organisation has formally trained over 6000 waste pickers. The members of Harisu Dala made sure to collect and segregate wet and dry waste.

"Soumya wanted to make it as eco-friendly as possible. The food waste will go to a private biomethanisation plant on Magadi Road. Dry waste will be taken to other collection centres. Our aim was to ensure there is no flower waste at all," said Mar wan Abubarker, co-founder of Hasiru Dal, to the Times of India.

In the wedding which took place at the Bangalore Main Palace everything from food to clothes to the decorations was done in an environmental friendly manner.

Soumya who is a vegan and runs a vegan cafe in Kormangala, made it a point the menu at the wedding was vegan as well. The caterers at the wedding, N Chandrashekar and Sons said, "We didn't use milk, ghee or curd as they wanted to stick to a vegan cuisine. Instead we used coconut juice, soya been milk, and soyabeen yoghurt." Tea and coffee were made of soya bean milk.

The guests at the wedding were instructed not to wear silk, leather or woolen products and also none of the clothes gifted to the relatives and family contained any silk or wool, Soumya told the Bangalore Mirror.

The invitation cards made of recycled paper clearly mentioned, "No gifts or bouquets".
The return gifts included saplings like, sandalwood, rosewood, jack-fruit and neem and over 5000 such saplings were bought from the government nurseries in Bangalore.

According to a report in the Bangalore Mirror the couple, Soumya and Abhishek Raje, sent out a message saying, "Love and passion for animals and the planet is what brought us to together and we wanted to share this with you. As a wedding gift to us, try a vegan lifestyle for a change and see how your body, mind and soul respond to a cruelty-free lifestyle!"