Knitting Plastic with Cotton Threads
Moved by the concerns related to irresponsible handling of plastic bags, Rupjyoti learnt the process of plastic weaving with thread and set up Village Weaves, in a small town near Kaziranga National Park in Assam, the organisation collects used plastic bags from homes to turns them into home decor and utitlity items.
Discarded plastic bags are finding their way into home furnishing accessories as village Weaves, an enterprise started by Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi of Bosagaon, a village near Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat district, Assam, is helping women convert plastic packets into home decor and utility items such as table mats, runners.
The idea dawned at her after she saw a large chunk of plastic bag in her kichten which were likely to be dumped in the landfills but she decided to set an example and attended a few workshops and learnt the process. After successfully weaving plastic with thread she took the idea to the women of the nearby villages.”
The organisation was started to curb the dumping of plastic bags choking the landfills in the village which was extremely hazardous to not just the fertile soil but to grazing animals and birds as well.
According to her, the wet waste is not a matter of concern as every home has a compost pit for it but plastic pollution is a menace and burning it make it worse. They sift plastic bags from homes which would otherwise be disposed with everyday wet waste and also urge villagers to collect plastic shopping bags.
She also teach them how to convert the bags into yarn and weave home utility products. Weaving is a common practice in Assam, so most women have and use looms at home and the practice can yield extra income by selling these usable and decorative items especially in present times when small scale village industries are running at low capacity owing to restrictions and the people of the villages surrounding Kaziranga have to manage with limited resources.
The products like coasters and mats are appreciated by tourists and expat community.Since there is no effective courier service, they ship them through travel agents.
Cover image by Aim2flourish
