HYDERABAD : The choices we make in our everyday lives tend to have an immense impact on the planet and can potentially decide the fate of living beings all over the Earth! Hard to believe? It’s true. A single example. We go to a store to buy vegetables and other groceries on an almost daily basis, right? The shopkeeper hands over the stuff in a crisp, shiny polythene bag, and we go home. At home, we take the stuff out and put them in their respective places in the kitchen, and throw the plastic bag in the dustbin.
Those who think they are environmentally conscious, reuse those plastic bags for a few more occasions until they are no longer usable. Ultimately, the plastic finds its way to the trash bin, which gets collected by GHMC vans and trucks until it ends up in a large landfill. Cows, stray dogs and other animals and birds inevitably ingest bits and pieces of this plastic floating around, lose their appetite, get sick and die. Plastic also finds its way across the lakes and rivers to oceans, where marine life gets impacted upon ingestion. Over time, when billions of people follow the same practice, it is not hard to imagine a day when ecological catastrophe results. And that day is nearer than you think.
In our country, recycling units are few and far between, and only a fraction of the plastic we use gets recycled. The rest automatically gets dumped on land and in the sea. Will levying fines on shopkeepers and consumers help mitigate the problem? Experts disagree. The Centre must ban the manufacturing of polythene, they say. But will the plastic lobby agree?
Is there no way out of this vicious circle? Enter #TheBagman. Who doesn’t love comic superheroes such as Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc.? Ideating along those lines, 27-year-old Sashikanth Kaja, Founder of city-based Rewheel Eco Solutions, hit upon the concept of #TheBagman.
When quizzed about the name and artwork that depicts a guy, Sashikanth laughs. “Of course, I am not showing any bias towards a particular gender”, he says emphatically.On the reasons for the widespread use of polythene, Sashikanth says, “People prefer plastic bags due to their affordability and accessibility. We are approaching leading retail stores and making them aware of #TheBagman. A few supermarkets in the city are already using our cloth bags”.
They have a factory at Macha Bollaram, where six women manufacture the bags on a full-time basis, and one man looks after the workshop operations. On a monthly basis, Sashikanth says they produce about 30,000 bags. About the profitability, he says they are breaking even currently, and have repeat clients. “We also invest in conducting regular sessions to our employees on screen printing, block printing and other technologies”, he adds.
“Our forefathers never used plastic bags. Somewhere down the line, a behavioural shift happened, and we started using polythene. To undo this shift, our mindset needs to change. Inadvertently, people have become used to plastic. In a subtle way, we aim to make people switch to cloth bags”, he points out, before signing off. For more details, visit www.thebagman.in
Tips for retailers
Apparel outlets and supermarket chains: Instead of charging a nominal amount for a plastic bag, charge higher and give a cloth bag Kirana stores and curry points: Give a durable cloth bag and charge consumers accordingly; refund the amount to them when they give it back
Tips for consumers
– Carry a cloth bag along with you when you step out of your home
– Ask your retailer if they have a plastic recycling programme, and whether they can help dispose your plastic trash
shyam@newindianexpress.com @shyamyadagiri