Architects and laypersons are increasingly incorporating waste and recycled materials as part of their designs, not piecemeal but in a more holistic manner. When Bill Sullivan first came to Auroville in 1974, there was hardly any plastic to be seen. Sullivan loved the place’s peace and quiet, not to mention the rolling plains of green, and soon became an Aurovillian. But over the next few decades, all of this changed.
It started with the tetra packs, a kind of plasticised cardboard carton used to package food, drinks and a number of other products. Plastic bags became ubiquitous, distributed for free with any purchase. And the absolute worst was styrofoam, i.e., expanded polystyrene particularly used to make food containers. “I saw India going into the pit. Because once the tetra packs and plastic bags and bottles came in, they were all over the street — and cows can’t eat it, crows can’t eat it, rats can’t eat it,” recalls Bill, who soon after coming to Auroville, took the ‘ill’ out of ‘Bill,’ becoming just ‘B.’
