Members of over 300 Common Livelihood Groups created by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) are burning the midnight oil to stitch and provide cloth bags. Each of these groups has at least 30 members who know tailoring and cutting.
Recycling materials
“Even before the ban on plastics began, we started training women in stitching. I told them if not for others at least stitch for yourselves,” said Stella George, a trainer in upcycling and recycling materials including paper and cloth, who also runs a tailoring unit for stitching bags in Tiruvallur. “Used uniform skirts, T-shirts and jeans can be upcycled as bags. Every single piece of cloth, paper or cardboard can be put to other uses,” she explained.
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The Corporation has been receiving orders from various organisations for cloth bags. “Our production is decentralised but marketing is centralised. We will first supply bags to various government departments that require them and then plan to approach industries or commerical establishments. We are in the process of preparing a catalogue of producers of alternative goods for plastics.”
"Initially, we will release the catalogue for Chennai district. It will contain details of individuals/groups, who supply such items,” Praveen P. Nair, Managing Director, TNCDW told
The Corporation supplies both cut material for stitching and cloth for cutting and stitching. B. Senthil Kumar, Manager, said that across the State some 5 lakh SHG members were trained in tailoring. “A majority of them are concentrated around Tirupur, Salem, Coimbatore and Erode where they stitch for various units on a rate per piece basis. We are currently regrouping the Common Livelihood Groups to ensure that bags, which are high in demand are supplied,” he said.
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In Vellore district, members of SHGs run four units that exclusively manufacture cloth bags of different sizes. The units at Vellore, Kaveripakkam, Nemili and Jolarpet have 10 to 12 SHG members each. “These SHGs run tailoring units and have taken up cloth bag making. We are promoting their products and marketing them through the District Supply and Marketing Society (DSMS),” A. R. Sivaraman, project director of Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women, Vellore district.
Ruban Austin, manager of DSMS, Vellore, said that these units were previously involved in making readymade garments and switched to cloth bags soon after the State government announced the ban on plastic. “Each unit makes around 30,000 to 40,000 bags per month. There is a huge demand for these cloth bags. Depending on the size of the bag, we have priced them from ₹3 to ₹50,” he said.