Sumithra Sekar and Shreekanth Murali regularly attend social activities organised by non-governmental organisations. At these events, they encountered a recurrent issue — participants would bring plastic bags and bottles with them, but would not care to take them away.
They wanted to do something about this. After sifting through various options, they decided to start a voluntary organisation that would create awareness about cloth bags, including how to make them at home.
“While looking for an affordable and eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags, old and unused clothes piling up at landfills caught our attention. Such clothes are our resources — material within our grasp. So, we started collecting old, usable clothes from friends and families, washed and stitched them into bags,” says Shreekanth, recounting how they established Eco Mithra, their NGO.
Offering help
Washing and stitching the clothes were the greatest challenges faced by the founders.
“We did not want to turn the opportunity into a business,” says Shreekanth, who roped in women tailors from various self-help groups (SHG) to stitch the simple bags, which range from ₹20 and ₹25. Drawstring bags are priced at ₹5 each.
“These encouraged these women to take up the work as an extra source of income. We brainstorm with these women as they have better ideas to stitch these bags. Our aim is not to sell bags, but to create awareness. Hence, we give orders and pay these women once they complete the work irrespective of how many of the bags get sold,” he says.
Eco Mithra bags had their first public outing at a Kuppai Matters event held in Perambur.
There, bags of various patterns and colours were displayed. In addition, a woman tailor demonstrated how to make these bags.
Based on feedback and suggestions, the team established a social media presence in January and remodelled the bags to mix and match different patches of clothes.
The team has joined hands with NGOs such as Banyan and Oasis India that work with SHG women tailors. The women at Banyan wash the clothes.
In addition to known contacts and Tuli, Eco Mithra team turns to residential communities to collect clothes.
“A few weeks ago, we took our campaign to DLF Garden City, OMR. We started with one block, where we asked the residents to donate their unused clothes and wait until they were converted into bags that they can purchase.
“Once this is successful, we will take the model to the other blocks. In the meantime, we have placed drop boxes at each block,” he adds.