Waste no more

The stall displaying the products,called ‘Trash to Cash’,was an initiative by the Society for Child Development,an NGO that was started in 1992 to provide equal opportunities to people with disabilities. The ‘Trash to Cash’ retail store is an old ‘recycled’ rickshaw,where these products were exhibited.

“All these are made by disabled children,and this — in a way — helps demonstrate that employment for them is possible. The team involved in this includes people with intellectual disabilities who create the fabric,paper and then later,another team comprising people with hearing disabilities takes over to add finishing touches to final products,such as bags and other items. Our priority is to give them a platform where they can showcase their skills,” says Dr Madhumita Puri,who started this NGO and also launched Prabhat,a school for children with learning difficulties in Shakti Nagar,North Delhi.

“We wanted to use materials that could be donated regularly,so the best idea was to make use of discarded items from offices and households to make hand-crafted products. This could be generated on a regular basis,” she adds.

Another organisation Swechha,which works for environment-related issues and social development,has a stall called ‘Green The Gap’ that showcases pouches,bags,coasters and wallets made of old tyres,tetra packs,waste cloth,waste leather and other materials. For instance,one of the products on display was a mother dairy pouch — a zip pouch made of recycled milk packaging and waste clothes.

“Green The Gap produces a variety of environment-friendly products in our workshop at Malviya Nagar,South Delhi. We employ tailors who are involved in making these products. They are from disadvantaged backgrounds and are looking for better working conditions. At Swechha,our focus is to provide them with decent working conditions and fair remuneration,” says Shikha Dutt,the head of operations.

“Also we buy materials such as tetrapacks directly from ragpickers and pay them accordingly,” she adds.

Sheela Choudhry’s Putul craft (cloth dolls),starting from Rs 50 onwards,was another innovative craft form that made use of discarded materials such as bottles,toothpaste tubes,razors,thermocol and pencil sharpeners. “After seeing how these materials are being wasted,I thought that they can be put to some better use. So I started using them for my work — to make these dolls. They are lightweight and ideal for gifting purposes as there are no chances of breakage. They can be used to tell stories and showcase the Indian culture. They can also be made according to a particular theme. It also helps in making people aware about this traditional art form,” says 60-year-old Choudhry,who has been using waste material to make these dolls since 1991.