SAVING RESOURCES - REPURPOSING WASTE IN INDIA!
By Vanshika Kumar & Wilson Tao
When we think of budgeting, oftentimes cutting costs and allocating funds wisely comes to mind. But saving and reusing resources can be equally as important in maintaining a healthy budget. Vanshika Kumar, our chapter director in India, has thought creatively to manage her budget in her rural, mountainous community in Bir, a small village in Northern India near the Himalaya. Reusing empty plastic chip bags, bamboo shoots, and other items of garbage, she created many useful household furniture items to save on spending!
Vanshika and her friend built a seat cushion out of plastic chip bags and bamboo … And it looks awesome!
In her small, local community where resources are rather scarce (she often goes to her neighbors to purchase milk from their cows), reusing and saving resources is crucial to managing a budget and maximizing their limited resources. She explains how she made the cushion below…
My first product is a plastic cushion.
My friend and I made this product, and it takes almost 1 week to be ready.
Some steps that we used to make this:
We collected the plastic from our surroundings, washed them nicely, and dried them.
Then we collected some grass straw/bamboo sticks and we folded the plastic onto it tightly.
Next we joined the plastic pieces together to form a long rope.
Finally we rolled it to give it a round cushion shape and sewed it with strong thread and our plastic cushion was ready!
To make the wall, we repeated the process until our seat cushion was complete.
Vanshika’s strong interest in arts and crafts combined with her savvy recycling skills led her to repurpose scrap cloth into a keychain!
