Bagman is a campaign by Rewheel to promote use of cloth bags to protect environment
“How much would you pay for this,” asked Sashi Kaja holding out a simple cloth bag with fishes printed on it. The print on the bag apart from fishes has a message that reads ‘plastic free oceans’.

Even at the cost of being judged after examining the double sturdy stitches on the sides and the cloth handles, I said, “not more than ₹100.” Sashi smiled, took the bag from the hand, (at this point I was sure of snide remarks) and said “I am selling them for ₹ 30 and even then I have people who wear expensive shades argue and bargain with me at malls.”

Sashi is the founder of a campaign — Bagman, which is also a part of his business — Rewheel that manufactures handmade cloth bags for everyday use. Rewheel is a social enterprise, which hopes to sensitise society on the usage of plastic bags for the cause of sustainable environment by iterating the fact that making earth safe starts with little changes in everyday lifestyle. In achieving the same, Rewheel manufactures cloth bags which are handy, comfortable, strong and above all ecologically safe. “Right from taking it to gym for a change of clothes and shoes to buying vegetables,” he assures. One can also look hep with his multi-purpose bags with quirky prints. Ideal to carry laptops and other extra essentials that cannot be stuffed into your stylish handbag for fear of making it go out of shape.

Sashi’ journey with bags however began with a trek. He never in his wildest dream thought he will be a ‘jhola-man’ to the extent of making and selling them. “I am a nature lover and love solitude. I am mostly out on treks and visit the wild on my own and that has pretty much made me become familiar with the jungles. Having trained to handle snakes have also taken me deep into the jungle to understand their habitat etc. While on one such trek I was shocked to find plastic bags deep inside the jungle. It was not a picnic spot or a commonly visited area, so the presence of the plastic bag was horrifying,” says Sashi.

While he is against plastic, Sashi agrees that plastic is a good discovery. “It is the way we use and dispose that makes a difference. Finding plastic inside a cow’s stomach is very common these days. The oceans are fast-filling up with plastic. Aquatic birds and animals are eating plastic and we are still not able to find a solution,” says Sashi.

Before starting Bagman, Sashi was into trading, buying from one point to selling at another. He would buy from others and market and sell it to people. So much so that he became a joke at home. “’Your brother works for Microsoft and what do we say you do?’ would be the joke at home,” laughs Sashi.

Earlier Sashi even worked in a startup where he sold chai and samosa. The idea he says is to understand how is it to be out there and sell a product.

Sashi wanted a business plan that would make him realise the dream of doing something for the environment and being able to provide livelihood to a section of people who need it. “We have a few in-house trained bag makers but I also outsource work to people who are trained but have very less work. I saw no point in training and investing in an infrastructure when there is ample available to be used,” says Sashi.

Is it financially viable? “At the moment not quite viable. sometimes we lose money, sometimes we just manage. Apart from this, rejections are a part of our business. The best thing one can do at times like this is to try harder. That is what I would tell those who want to give wings to their dreams,” says Sashi.

Earlier on, Sashi was also a part of the UnLtdHyderabad which is a part of UnLtdindia, an organisation that works to find, support and grow early-stage social entrepreneurs who can build high-impact organisations and grow as catalysts for social change.

“They gave me a grant and that’s how I started Rewheel five years ago. I most recently started the Bagman campaign to promote use of cloth bags. All heroes don’t wear capes, some heroes carry cloth bags because they care for the environment,” says Sashi pointing out to the campaign artwork. The pinboard displays his two most favourite subjects — one is Bagman and the other is Sonali Bendre. “I am a big fan and I was shattered to know that she was fighting cancer,” says he.

For details: www.thebagman.in

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Environment / by Prabalika M. Borah / Hyderabad – September 03rd, 2018

Bakey’s edible cutlery is Narayana Peesapaty’s solution to save the environment from plastic pollution.

Narayana Peesapaty’s phone rings incessantly. Taking a break from the calls he says, “Enquiries about the product and machinery keep me busy all day. Even while I am at the factory, my staff and I get very little time to do any other work. ” Some of these phone calls are to congratulate Peesapaty for the Swachh Bharat Award, which he received on June 23 from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of World Environment Day.

Apart from the congratulatory messages, some calls are enquiries for a product Peesapaty’s brand, Bakey’s, manufactures — edible cutlery. The unique cutlery is made mixing jowar (sorghum) with rice flour and wheat flour. He uses jowar only because unlike ragi and other millets, which have an overpowering taste, jowar is fairly neutral and allows different flavours to be mixed in.

One year and many kilograms of millets later, Peesapaty, with the help of his wife, was able to successfully get the right recipe to make the spoons. Finally, in 2016, Bakey’s took shape. Baking the dough at 280° Celsius for 28 minutes makes them tough enough to even spoon up soup with. Peesapaty thought about this cutlery first by accident while he was 5000 metres above sea level. “I was on a business trip and had packed jowar rotis. I forgot all about it. Then, when hunger pangs began, I reached for my food. I don’t like in-flight meals. My jowar roti had hardened. It was brittle, but still edible. I slowly began scooping the curry with the pieces, thus making me aware of what can be done to avoid disposable spoons,” says Peesapaty.

He realised the solution was not simple. His obsession with finding an alternative to disposable cutlery had two angles. “Apart from harming the environment, do we really know how disposable spoons are disposed of in reality? If they are all really being disposed of, then spoon piles should be as big a concern as discarded sanitary napkins. But no one talks about single-use spoon piles. Why? Because, often, they are not disposed of,” asserts Peesapaty.

To double-check this theory, not only did he wade through garbage, but even started sneaking into catered events to get first-hand information. “I made my way to the ‘service’ section of the function hall. I saw that while food and other things were being discarded, the spoons were separated and put in a bowl of water. When I enquired about it, the staff said ‘the spoon will be washed and reused. It is the supervisor’s instruction’. Still not convinced? Wipe a disposable spoon with your finger or a tissue paper, or drop them in a bowl of water. You will observe a thin film of oil floating in the water,” he says.

Another concern is depleting ground water levels and the presence of chemicals in them. “Millets use less water than rice. The dry belt of Telangana was mainly cultivated for millets. Rice was aspirational because it was consumed by the rich. But once the farmers grew rice, they came into the trap of fertilizer companies, because dry lands do not yield good produce. Everyone wants to make a profit, so the use of fertilizers has become rampant,” says Peesapaty, explaining why he was determined to engineer his product specifically with millets.

The cutlery also serves the purpose of promoting millets for consumption. As a result, “Farmers get encouraged to cultivate millets, which require very less water,” explains Peesapaty. Bakey’s sources the jowar millet locally from Telangana.

The crisp spoons taste like thick baked rice crisps. They need a strong bite with the molar to break and chew them. The spoons, if not bitten, do not dilute the taste or flavour of the curry you are having. Bakey’s has sweet and savoury varieties as of now, and a team of 27 people are working on other flavours like chocolate as well, in the factory at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad. They are also looking at decreasing the current waiting period of two months.

“The demand and feedback the world over are overwhelming, and the company is taking care of delivery logistics on its own to keep costs down,” he says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Food / by Prabalika M. Borah / Hyderabad – July 13th, 2018