One man’s Trash is another man’s treasure

 

Every year, an estimated 11.2 billion tonnes of solid waste is collected worldwide.

 

Waste if disposed open on ground, can leave hazardous chemicals into the soil and from there into our food, The burning of waste at landfills release toxic substances into the air like extremely poisoning dioxin, 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world's oceans each year causing an tragic loss of aquatic life.

 

while all of this is a fact we must all also know that the cleaning force of many countries has an indispensable army, commonly called THE RAGPICKERS.

 

You’ll be surprised to know that India has a vibrant recycling industry with 56 per cent of its recyclable waste being recovered.

 

Well, now you know that waste management stands solid on the shoulders of whom we all know as RAGPICKERS and KABADIWALAS.

 

But if you dig a little deeper then you’ll find that in India these communities, continue to struggle for survival in dire conditions—

 

●       Exposure to harmful chemicals and substances

●       Poor Hygiene conditions

●       Malnourished 

●       Low wages or Incorrectly Paid

●       Unrecognised Labour

●       Acceptance in Society

●       Physical and Mental Abuse  

●       Lack of access to basic civic amenities being a few problems to be named.

 

As a matter of fact, women comprises more than 50% of this workforce, taking all of it head-on. It is these women and an idea of making a better tomorrow that gave birth to “UPRAANT.”

 

Upraant is a not for profit organisation, working for providing employment to ragpickers and women from marginalised sections, along with working towards reducing waste by up-cycling it into Fashion and lifestyle accessories.

 

August 2021 marked the inception of “Upraant” and since then we have worked with these women, to know their interests, help them develop skills with help of an elaborate team of designers, artists, education professionals, marketing professionals, doctors, nutritionists, financial planners and students from different faculties who very generously volunteer for the cause.

 

With these skills like stitching, embroidery, crocheting, Knitting, Painting, Papier-mâché modelling, macrame, along with the mentoring sessions with our designers, our women, who we very proudly call our “SISTERS” Develop Beautiful, handcrafted, highly artisanal, fashion and lifestyle products from the “WASTE”  that we collect from various residential societies, workshops and small scale industries as Donations.

 

The Donated Waste first goes through a careful sanitisation and segregation process to be seen as raw material, which then undergoes the magic hands of our sisters to turn them to products like tote bags, slings, clutches, Laptop sleeves, backpacks, pouches, potlies, bottle lamps and many more.

 

We envisage “Upraant” to become a desired brand, our products to be seen as pride possessions of slow fashion, to be able to employ as many as a  thousand sisters, to be able to make a mark in reducing the carbon foot print. we see upraant to be a sustainable, artisanal yet luxury brand.