09th May, 2022

Author: Preeti Sharma (Content Writer)

Waste management has become a worldwide problem nowadays. There are lots of private and government authorities working on this serious matter, since it is not only harming the environment but also the human kind. There are many research programs on how to control waste management and to reduce the use of plastic and plastic material has encouraged at every level. In same way Amita Deshpande from Pune proved with her efforts to recycle the plastic waste, and has made a benchmark in recycling. It is not only up cycling or recycling process rather it is a support to provide the livelihoods to the tribal people in remote rural areas and a step to conserve the environment.

Amita Deshpande, the founder of ReCharkha is an Entrepreneur and innovator who is working on upcycle of Plastic products. Amita has been very conscious and always thought that if it does not become soil then one should not use it in the first place this is what she realized and actually started following it she told to The Hulahul Times. She did some campaigns in school life to raise the awareness towards the sustainable life. But she never thought of it to be as a primary career, it was all about lifestyle change. Where ever she goes whether it is trekking or river cleaning programs Amita picks up the plastic waste from there she brings back it back to city. Amita is an Engineering graduate and worked for IT companies in India almost 4years, but soon she realized that it is not the work she always wanted to pursue full time.

Amita gave up her well profound Engineering career and went to the US for education in the field of sustainability from Purdue University and worked with CSR teams for sustainability. Later, she moved to India and worked for CSR Consultancy, but Amita was more interested to do grass root activity.

In 2015, Amita started venture Aarohana Eco Social Developments which is into up cycling of plastic waste as she realized two problems in India which are not taken care off; out of which one was Waste Management, which is largely now a huge matter of concern and many associations and companies working towards it and second was livelihoods in rural areas of our country; since the level of employment in rural areas is very low. These two factors made her think to work upon and hence her project of up cycling with this two consideration.

Aarohana Eco Social Developments was restructured and branded as ReCharkha in 2020. It was all a network marketing through which ReCharkha became a popular brand. The first production unit was started in a tribal village of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The reason for choosing tribal locations for production units is to provide livelihood and sustainability to needy people including tribal women of the Warli tribe and impaired people. ReCharkha have two productions houses one is located at Pune at Karve Nagar and other is in a tribal village of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The tailoring division in Pune is consisting of 37-person team consisting designers and tailors.

The process starts at Dadra and Nagar Haveli unit where the plastic waste is brought to them by waste pickers and people from all over the country on their own, it is then segregated which really challenging job as we do not take plastic combined with wet garbage says Amita. It is then washed and sanitized before being cut with scissors. The yarn is then spun and weaved on charkhas and handlooms. Even the colors of the products are original they do not use dyes. They also emphasize that no chemicals or electricity are used in this procedure. Denim remnants are also used in some items, but not as the basic material. A bag can take up to 50-70 plastic bags and wrappers, and a half week to produce.

Amita never went into considering profits from this venture. Profit is just a byproduct; it is only to make something better. It’s almost 7years, she has started this and now people do understand her thought process and transforming it by reducing the use of plastic and its byproducts and that’s the only a profit she has earned which is very encouraging for her to move to next level. At first, Amita had to convince her distributors to sell her products. Then she concentrated on the distinctiveness of her enterprise and its products and ended up selling them in the market and online and ultimately turning a profit of over 70 lakhs before the pandemic hit the country. Other than India ReCharkha products are sold in UK, Singapore, Germany France and looking to make their presence in other countries to make people more aware about environment and their conservation.

So far, ReCharkha has up cycled 7, 00, 000 pounds of plastic garbage into attractive mats, home decor items, bags, baskets, and other goods. They intend to gather more trash than before and to serve more to society by reducing toxic waste, maintaining environment and uplifting rural residents by offering employment possibilities through their efforts.

The story of ReCharkha is not only a venture rather it is a channel and a social cause which everyone now should think off in making this society and planet a better and beautiful place for us and coming generations. The Entrepreneurs should do a proper research to make products which are eco social in nature, as we have only one planet and it’s high time to save it and nurture it.