A PROJECT FOR

DFC 2012 BY ANANDO

A MILKY IDEA

OUR GROUP SREEMOYEE

DIPANKAR

BABY

SHIBANI

AKSHAY

FE

EL

It all started with a nasty rubbish

dump…..

This rubbish heap lies right in the

heart of our neighborhood. We

have to pass it everyday. Located in an abandoned building it has flowed onto the

adjoining path and has become a

health hazard for us all.

We talked to the elders in the neighborhood about the correct way to resolve this problem. But it emerged that there were many complications because the dump was located on private property and there were many vested interests in it.

???

? ?

WHAT TO DO??

IMA

GIN

E

‘A large part of the trash on the dump is made up of plastic packets. The wind

blows them onto the path and makes it

difficult for us to walk that way. Why not find a

way to stop people using so many plastic

packets?”

We waited a long time for the elders to get back to us. In the meantime , Dipankar had a brainwave!

More brainstorming

and consultations

with parents who

are vendors led us

to the conclusion:

We would make

re-usable bags

out of used milk

pouches. Dipankar

and Baby’s father, a

fishmonger, would

then use them in his

shop instead of the

flimsy bags he now

uses.

We chose milk pouches because they are made of thick plastic

and it would be possible to use them several

times. Further the bags would get recycled in the process.

DO

A list was soon drawn up of all the people who

could collect milk pouches for

us. Responsibilities f

or collection were assigned to

each member.

The milk

pouches soon

started piling

up…

We washed them

thoroughly with

soap and water

to remove the

smell of stale

milk.

Then we

disinfected them

by dipping in

buckets of soap

and Dettol .

Shibani decided that it was taking too long to collect the packets from so many homes. So she approached a tea stall in her locality and acquired lots and lots of packets in one go! The stall owner made her promise to give him a bag when they were ready!

We then started sewing the bags together and soon a prototype was ready f or inspection!

But….Dipankar’s father did not approve it!

“It looks too flimsy…my customers will ref use to accept these”, he said.

NOW WHAT? While we were pondering the problem, our friend Subhash came to the rescue. Subhash sells vegetables after school and he suggested that the customers would accept the bags if they were prettier and especially if we could cover the milk pouches somehow….

Back to the drawing board!

We now decided to paste the packets on cloth before sewing them together. This would surely make them more presentable!

Our mothers and teachers readily came forward with their old saris …so we had a lot o cloth to paste on.

We tried to get others to help us sew the bags on a sewing machine. But no one had

the time!

So we decided to sew them by hand. Our other friends

helped us too.

One of our teachers helped us

by putting in eyelets for the

handles.

And finally our reusable shopping bags were ready !

SHARE….

We explained our purpose to the

local shopkeeper.

He was very happy to stock

some of the bags and sell

them for Rs. 10 each.

They were a sell-out in a matter

of days!

Our teachers and neighbors were also eager to buy the bags.

Subhash too wanted a few to sell from his vegetable cart.

In a week we had sold all 20!

We remembered

to give our tea stall “kaku” a bag too. He

has promised to give us a

regular supply of milk

pouches!

I t took a long t ime for the e lders o f our ne ighborhood to arr i ve a t a dec i s ion regard ing the rubbish dump. So we had to modi fy our p lan .

The fi rs t se t o f bags d id not look appeal ing or long las t ing

We could not fi nd anyone wi th a sewing machine who was ready to he lp us . Everyone was too busy wi th the onset o f the fes t i va l season . They promised to he lp us la ter but i t would be too la te by then!

A FEW OBSTACLES

Our fi rs t se t o f bags were n ice but they need more work to make them better. We have to make them s tronger next t ime .

Many o f our f r iends at Anando jo ined in to make the bags . We now p lan to teach everyone in our Anando c lass how to make the bags . Soon everyone wi l l have one to take home.

The shop and many o f our fi rs t customers want more bags….So a l l o f us p lan to cont inue making the bags in the months to come.

WAY FORWARDWe are not done yet!

And as for the rubbish dump…….

We hear that the municipal corporation is planning to remove it. But we intend to keep following up on our petition until something is done about it .

YES,

WE CAN !