Women Of Gujarat's Vankar Community Are Weaving Plastic And Saving The Environment, Thanks To Rajiben

From a 21-year-old to a woman in her 80s, the women of Avadhnagar village are gathered in Rajiben's house. The sound of Kachchi folk songs fills the air. As the women sing, they are also hard at work, preserving old Kachchi art traditions and saving the environment. These women are weavers and they will soon get to work preparing bags, jackets and other items - but this time it's not with cloth.

Rajiben is on a mission to collect as much plastic as possible. For her, this plastic is gold. Other women from her village are doing the same - house after house and bag after bag. A polythene in every colour and every piece of polythene is important.

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Plastic, a versatile and inexpensive material, has become an integral part of our daily lives. However, its widespread use and improper disposal have led to severe consequences for the environment. Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the most critical environmental challenges of our time, with disastrous effects on ecosystems, wildlife, and even human health. And Rajiben is on a mission to put plastic to good use and give it a conscience.

Talking about involving the community in collecting plastic, Rajiben Vankar, an artisan said,

We go from village to village and meet with the women in each place. We explain to them the harmful impact of plastic on our environment, and the damage it causes, especially for the cows who eat this plastic and die. So, I tell all the women to begin by not taking any plastic bags from the market, instead, they should carry their own bags with them.

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However, there are still some things that come wrapped in plastic. To this, Rajiben says,

I tell them not to throw that plastic just anywhere. They should collect it in one place and we will come and collect it.

But how many houses can one woman go to, to collect plastic? To address this, Rajiben came up with an innovative idea. Not only does it help her collect more plastic more easily, but it also provides an opportunity for other women to earn money. She explained,

There are one to two women in every village who collect all the plastic from all the houses. We tell them to call us once they have collected the plastic, whatever the amount, 5kg or 10kg, in a week or fortnight, or even three months. We buy plastic from them for Rs. 20 per kilo.

The women gather in Rajiben's house and segregate all the plastic they have collected. This isn't just work, it is a way for this community of women to come together, a practice of an oral tradition, and a sisterhood bound by livelihood and skill, and in this case, plastic.

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The plastic is segregated by color, and then washed and completely dried. Explaining the process, Rajiben said,

After drying the plastic, we cut long strips out of it. After cutting the stripes, we make bobbins from them.

But what will Rajiben do with all this plastic? The plastic will all be turned into bags, pouches, yoga mats, organising trays, and even jackets! Rajiben is providing employment opportunities to marginalised weavers, promoting their traditional craft, preserving the cultural heritage, empowering women, and keeping all this plastic from choking our landfills.

The journey to becoming an entrepreneur hasn't been easy for Rajiben. Widowed at a very young age, she had three children to take care of. But Rajiben refused to let her circumstances get her down. Instead, she embraced education as a means to uplift herself and her community.

Rajiben's journey took a transformative turn when she was introduced to an NGO working for the welfare of weaver communities. This is where Rajiben learned how to upcycle plastic into different products. Her work received a lot of praise and she was invited to London for a workshop on plastic weaving.

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Recalling her visit to London and the experience, Rajiben said,

London still feels like it was a dream. I had never imagined that I would travel such a long distance. When I think back to the conditions I have emerged from, I never thought that I would come this far. I told them about my work and how we use waste plastic. I gave them a demo and even conducted two to three workshops. They told me that I was doing a great job despite being uneducated. They told me that there are educated people, and young people who I need to show this process to, because it is important. Plastic is very harmful in our country, and it has become the need of the hour to involve the youth in this. Many people are supporting us. Especially the girls are joining us, and it feels good to see that.

The country's artisans have been honing their craft for generations, creating exquisite products that reflect the complexity, colour, beauty and intricacy of Indian art. However, despite their exceptional skills, many Indian artisans face significant struggles when it comes to marketing their products effectively. Kaarigar Clinic is helping them do exactly that.

Talking about Kaarigar Clinic, Founder and CEO Nilesh Priyadarshi said,

We founded Kaarigar Clinic because in the craft sector, our artisans across India work with two entities – non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and big brands. I have worked with both entities for years and both are doing good work in their respective fields. But I felt there was a gap. While both entities were progressing at their own level, there was very little progress or change for the artisans themselves. There was no improvement in their quality of life. We started Kaarigar Clinic to change their quality of life and give them an identity.

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The Kaarigar Clinic is an initiative aimed at providing support to Indian artisans. The primary objective is to address the multifaceted challenges faced by artisans, such as lack of access to markets, financial constraints, and lack of skill development. By offering holistic assistance, the Kaarigar Clinic aims to revitalise traditional art forms, improve socio-economic conditions for the artisans, and preserve India's cultural heritage.

Explaining how Kaarigar Clinic helped her become a ‘marketer' from just a ‘weaver', Rajiben said,

We had zero knowledge about how to market or design our products, we only knew how to weave. We learnt all this with the help of the Kaarigar Clinic. They taught us how to market our products and not just sit at the stalls. We now explain the entire process of making to customers, different artists, and sometimes we even demonstrate the process. They will only understand what we do when we tell them about the process. They (Kaarigar Clinic) teach us how to sell our products at exhibitions, and how to explain them to visitors. They teach us how to make women financially independent.

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Further talking about how artisans like Rajiben are safeguarding the environment and their traditions, Nilesh added,

If I take the example of Rajiben, her thought was that every human being is using plastic, and that plastic is very harmful to the environment. It is a wrong practice, but how can we correct it? So, she used her traditional knowledge. Being a textile weaver, she asked herself how she could support the environment. In my opinion, the artisans are clear about two things, first that we shouldn't make any product that can harm the environment, and second, how do they address the products and practices that are already harming our environment. In both senses, the artisans are becoming the protectors of the environment.

Rajiben has trained the women in her village to segregate, clean, cut and weave the plastic. Almost every house in Rajiben's village has a handloom and weaving at Rajiben's unit is done only by women of the Vankar community as they are skilled in the craft.

Rajiben added,

We don't want to create a big business. We only want to help our women become financially independent and save the environment. We also want to involve more women in the art of weaving. Once they are involved, the women will be able to weave waste plastic on their own. We would just have to give them a plastic roll, and they would be able to cut and weave the plastic on their own.

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Talking about keeping the tradition alive, Nilesh said,

The children of the artisans see them work for years. They see that despite that there hasn't been a significant improvement in their lives, and so the children choose not to take that craft and the traditions forward. Their children always keep two things in mind while deciding whether or not to continue with traditional crafts. Will this help improve our social status, and how much has this helped improve our economic status.

Dedicated to saving the environment and empowering women, Rajiben Vankar stands as an exceptional figure. Her tireless efforts have yielded remarkable results, inspiring countless others to follow the path that she has created.

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