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CONSERVE

New Delhi, India

Since its foundation, CONSERVE has addressed a number of social and economic problems in the city of New Delhi.

• The project collects plastic bags that litter the streets and neighborhoods of New Delhi. Recycling this non-biodegradable trash not only beautifies the cityscape, but also serves to build local pride.
• CONSERVE creates jobs for the poor who have no other jobs. Currently, 60 urban women are employed by this program. This means women are able to provide for themselves and their families and gain access to more opportunities.
• The process of creating the plastic material does not create more pollution or littering. In addition to recycling plastic, the process does not require additional dyes or inks which may be toxic.

History

CONSERVE is a recycling and waste management NGO (non-governmental organization) that was founded in October 2003 in response to the mountains of garbage and litter, especially plastic bags, that had become a common sight around the city of New Delhi.

“We collected waste from 500 houses to make compost in a municipal corporation park. That’s when we realized how much plastic the city uses. So we started on the plastic bag project” says Anita Ahuja, President of Conserve.

The project employs poor urban women in the slums of east Delhi to collect, sort, weigh and clean plastic bags. Through an amalgamation process, the plastic melts together creating a thicker more durable plastic material. Since the plastic bags come in all colors, different designs can be created using strips and cutouts of bags, no dyes or inks are required.

Creations

The plastic material has found new life in a multitude of products including bags, purses, totes and office supplies.

“Plastic bags offer undoubted convenience but are an unnecessary environmental nuisance and have a dismal record of causing suffering both, to humans and animals. Hopefully one day, the need for these would no longer be felt. But, until then, all efforts have to be made to ensure that these usual eyesores are collected from the garbage dumps and recycled appropriately.” -CONSERVE

See all recycled products we carry.