THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An elegantly crafted cloth bag made from the scraps of a police uniform rests amongst the pile of cloth bags. With arresting colours, varied texture and stunningly accented with motifs and patterns, each bag vies for your attention. “The alternative for plastic is right at your home itself,” says Mohan Kumar S, as he shows the eclectic set of cloth bags crafted from old saris and fabric wastes from tailoring shops.
Plastic has weaved itself into our lives as an integral part. “But we can easily replace it,” says theis nature’s own advocate. “From one sari, you can fashion out around 15 carry bags,” he enthusiastically adds. For the past two years, the man has been on a mission to rid the city of plastic. Mohan, who belongs to the city, is settled in Kollam but shuttles back and forth as he runs the franchise of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation in the city. In his shop, one wouldn’t find plastic carry bags. “Only cloth carry bags are given to customers. Many come to buy the bags as well,” he says. The bags are sold at Rs 10 and Rs 20.
Mohan has been instrumental in making the residents of his locality in Kollam eschew plastic and adopt cloth bags. “It first started from our home. And then we went around to the houses in our locality and gave them cloth bags for free. Now they use only cloth bags,” says Mohan. His move has helped make the residents of the Nityaprabha Nagar in Uliyakovil, Kollam shun plastic bags. The cloth bags are fashioned out from old saris and waste fabric from tailoring shops.
On the forefront of this movement is his wife R Sreelekha. “We source the waste fabric from a nearby tailoring shop and my wife stitches the bags. She learned to stitch only for this. If you have 30 such cloth carry bags, you are good for one year. You can wash and reuse it,” says Manoj. That was the start of the upcycling project which Mohan is ardently striving to popularise amongst the public. “The stitching cost doesn’t amount much. In two hours, you can create around 20 cloth bags,” he adds.
Mohan is actively involved in campaigning across schools, colleges and organisations about the need to replace plastic with cloth carry bags. “We are willing to help out those who are interested in learning this and teach them for free,” Mohan says. “The Kudumbasree units can tie up with the tailoring shops. The government can easily helm such a project. Apart from giving the public a suitable alternative, it can generate employment. The amount of waste can be significantly reduced,” he adds.