Six Class 12 Mumbai students promote paper bags for plastic-free Powai
The group is urging residents and vendors to opt for bags made of recycled newspaper
Shlok Babu, a Class 12 student from Powai, and his five friends used their summer holidays to come up with ideas to make the locality plastic-free. The group spent the entire June convincing residents and shopkeepers to avoid using plastic bags.
Through its ‘Plastic-Free Powai’ initiative, the group studied the use of plastic bags by vendors and devised ways to spread awareness among residents.
“We talk about big issues such as global warming, then why not bring the change by taking small steps? Plastic problem is something that we can tackle as a society. And this is what we are doing,” said Babu.
The group is urging residents and vendors to opt for bags made of recycled newspaper. The boys have already three boxes of old newspapers from two housing societies in Powai — Avalon and Evita — and placed their first order of 400 paper bags with a women’s self-help group in Bandra. Depending on the size and quality,the paper bags will be priced anywhere between 50 paise to Rs 3. The group will be selling these bags to three vegetable vendors and a florist.
“We all know that plastic is non-biodegradable. We are happy to be a part of the initiative. These teenagers are spreading the right message,” said Megha Shelar, head of Shree Mahalakshmi Mahila Mandal, which will be making the paper bags.
The group also visited 12,000 houses in Powai and distributed pamphlets to promote its newspaper collection campaign for making paper bags. The group has already started collecting newspapers from two other societies. They are now trying to convince other hawkers and shopkeepers to switch to paper bags.
“Plastic bags are cheaper in comparison to paper. Through this project, we are providing paper bags at the cost of plastic bags,” said Babu.