In the spiritual city of Varanasi, where the sacred Ganga flows, hundreds of thousands of devotees leave behind heaps of donated clothes at the ghats (riversides). This creates a massive cleaning challenge and poses a threat to wildlife that may accidentally ingest these textiles.
Enter IAS officer Akshat Verma, whose brilliant solution turned this issue into an opportunity.
While posted in the city, he had an innovative idea: instead of letting these discarded clothes harm the environment, why not repurpose them into something useful? “Why not make bags from them?” he proposed.
Teaming up with Hope Welfare Foundation, an NGO run by the youth of Benaras, the IAS officer set his plan into motion. Their ‘Green Army’, a self-help group of rural women, took on the task of converting waste clothes into functional cloth bags. These women handcrafted 1 lakh bags, which were distributed free of cost to shopkeepers and locals, offering a sustainable alternative to plastic bags.
Launched in December 2023, this initiative has addressed multiple issues at once: it cleaned the ghats, empowered over 50 local women by providing them with jobs, and distributed 1 lakh eco-friendly bags, preventing heaps of fabric from ending up in landfills.
If you wish to contribute to this cause, call 8090829156 or connect on Instagram @hopepariwar.
Edited by Khushi Arora
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