As upscaling picks up among the environmentally conscious, there is little that has not been recycled and put to good use, be it bags, tyres, rugs, bottles, or paper.
Mohan Kumar S., who runs an outlet of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation and the Kerala State Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Cooperative Society (Capex) at Pattom, has been doing his bit for the environment. Concerned at the amount of plastic polluting land, sea, and air, he has been using only cloth bags in his store for the past two years. The response, he says, has been quite positive. People even ask for a few extra bags when they make a purchase.
The cloth for the bags is sourced from a tailoring shop in Kollam where Mr. Mohan Kumar lives. That is enough for making 300 cloth bags a month, he says.
In the wake of the recent floods, the clothes received at a collection centre in front of VJT Hall where he chipped in included old saris. Reluctant to let them go waste, he used them to make cloth bags which were then sold there.
Proposal to CM
Inspired by his experiences and keen to make a difference, Mr. Mohan Kumar then submitted a proposal to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Approximately 10-15 plastic carry bags are used for various purposes by a household and then thrown out, he estimated.
With 65 lakh families in the State, this comes to 6.5 crore carry bags.
Now, if a household were to be asked to donate a sari or a bedsheet that is not used any longer and give ₹100 too, it could be returned 10 cloth bags, which would last the household for at least three months.
This, in turn, would help avoid the use of 19.5 carry bags in three months.
It would also generate employment, he says.
Earnings
If a person stitched 10 bags in an hour at the rate of ₹8 a bag, they would earn ₹640 a day, and approximately ₹16,000 a month.
In 25 days, a person will be able to stitch 2,000 bags.
Since 6.5 crore carry bags are needed a month, 32,500 people will be able to find employment in a month, earning a total of ₹52 crore.
Reply from CMO
The word from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on his proposal is that it has been transferred to the Local Self-Government Department.
Mr. Mohan Kumar’s wife R. Sreelekha, who stitches the bags used in his outlet at Pattom.
“New cloth bags are more expensive. Old cloth or leftover cloth bags are economically viable.”