21^st Eco-gen Ambassador Program- Theme Report, January 2019

‘The campaign or project for this year to prevent climate change or make your local community better off than last year concerning environmental problems’

I strongly believe that taking care of the environment is not an ephemeral act or two, but a way of life and should not need any additional effort. To this end, I am forever about any opportunities that can help contribute to eco conservation.

I am sharing with all of you a small project that I initiated to make cloth bags out of left over fabric. My father is working with a textile mill that produces furnishing textiles. During a visit to the mill, I noticed that there is a lot of fabric material there that is either rejected due to minor quality issues, or smaller samples and cuts that are discarded after final selections, or trials that donot make it to the final stage. The bigger pieces are used for various other purposes but I noticed that smaller cuts were not being put to any use.

I thought of using these to make small purses and bags in various sizes. Starting from small coin pouches, to mobile phone purses, covers for tablets and small shoulder bags that can be used for shopping. In Austria the supermarkets do not hand out free carry bags and people have to take their own bags or buy them at the markets along with the rest of their shopping. Cloth bags kept in the cars come in very handy.

I used my pocket money to buy zippers.Mr. Subahan, a tailor by profession, helped me to stitch the purses and bags in his free time. Initially I used them as alternatives to gift wrapping. People often tear and throw away gift wrap paper. When wrapped in fabric purses, these purses were used even after the gifts were taken out. Later I shared some of these bags with my friends and classmates, encouraging them to use them as gift bags.

My father liked my idea and now these fabric purses are being used by his company as promotional giveaways and marketing tools. Not only is the left over fabric being put to good use but gifts and gift bags created this way are reusable and have a long useful life.

I hope to spread the project  in my local community and neighborhood in the days to come.