Slumdog Millionaires!

Indiscriminate littering of plastic bags clogs up Kolkata’s street drains which results in water-logging in several areas of the city. During monsoons, the city almost comes to a standstill! Some city environmentalists are petitioning the municipal authorities to ban the widespread use of plastic bags in the city, also because the toxic material remains in the soil for years. However, plastic bags have become an indispensable part of our daily life. They have several advantages, including being cost effective, and hence a “ban” on plastic bags is not working. The consumers and shopkeepers alike want plastic bags.

Recently, I came to know that some entrepreneurs living in the slums of Kolkata have found the solution to this problem. They have installed a plastic recycling unit near the dumping grounds (where the plastic bags are dumped along with other trash). They collect the plastic bags from these places and recycle them into small plastic granules. These plastic granules are similar to the ones produced by the petrochemical companies – plastic is converted into small granules and then transported to the various industries to be converted into the respective plastic product. Of course, the recycled plastic granules are not as good as the “virgin” ones, but they are not much inferior either. They can be used to make several plastic products like pens, chairs, components of a car among others; only the products used for food packaging are not allowed to be made from this recycled plastic.

The “recycled” plastic granules sell for around 1/3rd the price of the “virgin” ones –and the difference increases considerably as the price of oil increases!   

From my field research, I know that it is not “clean” recycling as some polluting gases are emitted. However, larger amounts of gases are released when municipal authorities burn the plastic bags in the dumping ground! I feel the government should provide pollution control devices (they are inexpensive) that can absorb the harmful gases that are being emitted.

Also, as you can see from the picture, the men collecting the plastic bags from the dumping ground work in unhygienic conditions. I feel they should be provided gloves, masks for better working conditions.
 
What I want to showcase here is the entrepreneurship in the slums of our cities. They are aware of a social problem, came to know of a sustainable solution and implemented it.

These are the future millionaires – “green” entrepreneurs –that we should celebrate in a movie!