CHENNAI: In a move to make city plastic-free, Tiruvottriyur zone of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has started converting garment waste into carry bags. Being the first zone to take up the initiative, three sewing machines have been set up at Tiruvottriyur and woman corporation staff have been roped in to stitch the bags.
Paramasivam, a conservancy supervisor of the zone, said waste from daily garbage collection is being used for stitching bags. ‘’We started this about a week ago and every day about 50 kgs of clothes are collected. We have made 250 bags so far,’’ he said.
"Once the waste cloth arrives, we rinse it three times and dry it. Later, they are given for stitching. Final product is given to fish and fruit vendors for free.”The cloth bags, mainly made of cotton clothes, are of different designs and colours as well. ‘’We get sarees, petticoats, shirts, trousers and many types of dresses apart from just cloth pieces. So, we have a lot of choices for designs,’’ said R Radha, a tailor.
While Radha stitches the clothes, Ravindran, another corporation worker, helps in cutting them. ‘’We start work at 6 am and go on till 1 pm. By then, we stitch about 40 to 50 bags daily,’’ she said. Many designs like flowers, fish and stars can be found. Ever since the plastic ban this year, there has been a demand for plastic bags. Malls and shops provide only cotton bags at a cost ranging from Rs 5 and 20.
However, with this low cost and less tasking process of producing cotton bags, officials believe this can push through the idea of ‘Zero Waste Chennai’ as well as promote cotton bags. According to data, currently about 15 tonnes of garment waste is produced in every zone in the city. Officials believe if this is implemented in the city, it can have a wide impact on people not to use plastic as well as to promote tailoring and stitching.
H Murugan, Zonal Officer, Tiruvottriyur, told Express that these cloth bags can be reused and people can carry their own bags. ‘’Paper bags were another option to avoid plastic bags but as cotton bags are strong, this can be a good alternative,’’ he said. “As we are composting biowaste, we are also thinking of filling manure in the cotton bags and sell it to public at Rs 10 per bag”, he said.