Saketh Kothamasu, a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and founder of the NGO Yuvatha, always wondered where students’record books of a subject in graduation courses would end up, after course completion. He had similar questions about the use of newspapers and official circulars at companies and educational institutions.
He was looking at recycled paper usage, but who would benefit the most out of it? A pilot project threw the dynamics of the industry and that the need for recycled paper was mostly felt across government schools in the city. The resultant initiative, Mission B, undertaken by a group of 30 volunteers from Yuvatha will see the donation of over a lakh books made out of recycled paper to students in government schools in Hyderabad.
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“Besides education, many parents enrol their wards in government schools for the provision of mid-day meals and free textbooks. However, notebooks remain an ignored aspect. Therefore, we aim to donate a minimum of five notebooks per student in every government school in the city through this project. That we are helping the education sector and are promoting a greener world has made this multi-dimensional,” Saketh adds. Initially, students across nine shelter homes in Hyderabad (that the NGO has adopted) will benefit from the recycled paper drive. The volunteers —including students and professionals from a wide range of sectors,have taken time out during weekends for the cause. They all (designated to one area each) meet once a month to assemble the material from various localities at the recycling units.
Given a few members in the group belong to the recycled paper-industry, aspects surrounding binding/cutting of the papers are now being undertaken free of cost. Going ahead, the expenditure they are to incur with the initiative is for the book-covers and the logistics, for which they plan to raise funds soon. “Though there is a huge availability of recycled/hand made paper, the purpose of wise paper usage isn’t still prevalent in society; the reason being the affordability. Our initiative focuses at curbing paper waste to a large extent and also to use them for a worthy purpose. We were surprised that not many were willing to part with the papers. Yet, the response from corporates has been really forthcoming. We hope private schools too join our drive as a goodwill measure.”
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Team Yuvatha, besides earning the support of many college students in the city in finding avenues through which paper waste can be collected, have been aided by voices from the Telugu film industry including Nani, Sivabalaji, Madhumita, Navdeep and Radhikaa Sarathkumar in promoting the cause.
The seven-year old group plans to take up more initiatives surrounding environment, education, adoption and civic issues in the coming months.