Finding local market for its zero waste craft products has proved to be a challenge for The Samdrup Jongkhar Initiative (SJI). The NGO based in Samdrup Jongkhar, lauded for its sustainable waste management works, says making people buy recycled products remains a daunting task.
Making crafts works from waste is among the key zero waste management initiatives of The Samdrup Jongkhar Initiative. It involves training mainly rural women in making various products from plastic wastes including carry bags, mats and baskets. More than a thousand people have been trained under the initiative so far.
In the last three years, the creative craft initiative saw over 1,200 kilograms of plastic wastes transformed into beautiful and useful items. However, the demand for these recycled products remains negligible.
Cheku Dorji, the Zero Waste Coordinator with SJI, says marketing the products has been a challenge. “We have been making zero waste craft products for the last five years now but the products hardly sell in the local market. It’s the people from outside and the environmentally conscious people who buy it.”
Turning wastes into useful products is only a part of the recycling process. Buying and using recycled products completes the circle. It helps maintain consumer demand and keep the recycling initiatives alive.
Cheku Dorji thinks the poor demand for recycled products has got a lot to do with people’s attitudes towards such goods. “In Bhutan, people do not see waste products in a positive way. The perception and attitude towards using products made from wastes is not very positive.”
Otherwise, the SJI’s zero waste craft programme has proved to be a dual-purpose initiative. It has not only helped reduce wastes but also encouraged rural women entrepreneurship.
A women crafts group in Dewathang said it has equipped them with a skill to earn income. Yurung Zangmo is one of the members. She finds herself collecting wastes from everywhere she goes, something that hardly crossed her mind before. Her children often lend her a hand.
It’s the same story for Choki, another member. “My children collect wastes on their way home from school.”
