Chennai: When Rakesh Ganesan, a resident of Saligramam met Amit Roy of Kolkata during a trip to the North East, the connection was spontaneous as the men had two passion in common – to travel and to work extensively on environmental cause. They now teach sustainable living, focusing on reducing plastic consumption. The duo have started a small initiative – making recyclable products.
Speaking to News Today, Rakesh says he teaches participants to make bricks out of plastic bottles at his studio in Saligramam.
“We collect plastic wrappers, covers and stuff them into a plastic bottle. The bottles are strong when they are stuffed by small plastic waste which aren’t recycled in general,” he says.
The duo use these bottles to make objects such as furniture. The method requires homemade items. “You just need glues and ropes to make a chair,” says Amit. “Our goal is to stop plastic bottles entering landfills,” he adds.
The friends have conducted sessions at schools and hope to take it to self-help groups (SHGs). Rakesh explains that there are numerous initiatives where people work on collecting plastic waste. “However, what happens is that they fail to segregate and the plastic are dumped in land. It is important to recycle them,” he says.
They have also made pencils from waste papers meshed together and fixing seeds on its end inside like a capsule.
“Once thrown in soil, the seeds will grow,” says Rakesh.
Amit has also worked on micro-plastic which is a major threat to oceans. “When I started to do research, I was surprised that the government has no data on amount of micro-plastic in waterbodies,” he says.
His research helped him explore organic waste in plastic. “When food packets are discarded, they are prone to produce disease causing bacteria,” says Amit.
Rakesh conducts workshop at The Tie Dye Studio, First Floor, 80 Feet Road, Satya Garden, Saligramam. Reach him at 91676 32092.