Success Story: Made handbags from waste by working with ragpickers, today turnover of Rs 100 crore
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Anita Ahuja collects plastic waste from ragpickers and makes world-class handbags from it.
The Textile Ministry had given Anita a small booth in a fair in 2003, in which the first order of Rs 30 lakh was received. (Photo credit: Kenifolis)Delhi’s Anita Ahuja and her husband Shalabh are carrying out this unique campaign. According to the news published by Kenfolios, they make beautiful export quality products by reusing plastic waste. Anita Ahuja, the daughter of this freedom fighter, who was born in Bhopal and brought up in Delhi, devoted her entire life to the service of the society. Let us know how he started the business of making beautiful objects from waste…
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Seeing the plight of ragpickers, she decided that she would do something to improve their lives. Hence, he started a social enterprise under which he decided to collect plastic waste from ragpickers and make world-class handbags from it. He had no plans of entering business nor of doing social service. With the aim of doing something new in life, he started working for garbage collectors.
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One day, Anita, along with some like-minded friends and family members, decided to take up some small projects in her area. He started an NGO ‘Conserve India’ and started collecting garbage from the entire area under this project. Kitchen waste was separated from the collected garbage and kept in a nearby park for composting. Right from the beginning she realized that nothing would be achieved alone, so Anita sought support from other colonies as well. His beginning was not to make money.
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NGO Conserve India started Resident Welfare Association with around 3000 people. This association became a full-time commitment organization with its own rights in 2002. Anita worked with ragpickers for four years and realized that their standard of living was below poverty level. She decided that she would work to improve the living standards of ragpickers. He obtained information on recycling technology from the internet and tried different things.
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At first they did weaving work and made carpets
At first he did weaving work and made carpets. But these products looked very simple, required a lot of labor and were not economically viable and it was becoming difficult to sell them. Then he decided to develop plastic bags and this work went well. She thought that first she would make artwork in plastic bags and then exhibit it and then try to raise money. Her husband realized that Anita’s plan would not work. Shalabh got fabricated plastic sheets prepared on a large scale by machine. Artwork would be made in it through an automatic machine and then they would be displayed in the exhibition.
Found an order worth Rs 30 lakh in a small booth.
In 2003, Conserve India participated in the trade fair at Pragati Maidan. The Textile Ministry had given him a small booth and he got an order of Rs 30 lakh from it. Anita and Shalabh decided that they would take ownership of the company as buyers were not interested in taking orders directly from the NGO. For plastic waste, waste collectors had to go door to door to collect garbage but it was less in proportion and then special colored plastic was required to make the product. For this, he contacted the scrap dealers and also started purchasing plastic waste directly from the industry. Gradually Conserve India became a brand. By the year 2020 the turn-over reached Rs 100 crore.
