30/11/2014
Ever thought your used polythene bag could end up in a London fashion house? Thanks to Conserve, it probably did!
Conserve India is an NGO founded by conservationist Anita Ahuja and her husband Shalabh that has designed a novel procedure for profitable local waste management. It has developed a cottage industry wherein rag pickers from Delhi’s slums are trained to separate colorful plastic bags from mounds of rubbish. These are then moulded together into single sheets of thick, durable plastic and stitched into handbags with attractive prints. The most exciting part of this endeavor is that the finished product can be found on the shelves of top fashion boutiques in the US, UK, France, Spain and other countries and fetches an annual turnover of about £100,000! The quality of the material used (called Handmade Recycled Plastic) is quite high despite its humble sourcing and the very fact that the stylish handbags are made out of plastic waste has become their USP.
The Ahujas use as much recycled material as possible and in the process contribute to the livelihoods of more than 300 people, from the rag-pickers who are paid for collecting the plastic bags, to the skilled labourers who sew the handbags. With international offers to implement the same idea in other countries and a host of Western volunteers, they aim to spread the message of eco-sustainability and local development all over the world.
For the complete story, visit- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/from-bags-to-riches-the-recycling-project-which-starts-in-indias-rubbish-tips-522321.html
It may sound hard to believe, but handbags for sale in some of London's fashionable boutiques started out as used plastic bags scavenged from the rubbish tips of Delhi. They are the product of a cottage industry run out of the living rooms of a handful of houses in a Delhi slum. The plastic bags are…
