Earth5R

Recycled Paper Bag Workshop

The paper you throw goes somewhere and that is where it gets trapped. It goes to landfills and after some time, it becomes a waste. Instead of wasting those papers, why not recycle them to create a new product out of it. Recycling has been a way to reduce waste and to reproduce new products. It is a way to create a livelihood out of trash and through this way; one can have a sustainable development without hurting the environment. Anyone can do recycling and it only takes one single idea to make it possible.

The country of India creates not less than millions of garbage’s each day and this creates a lot of problem to the people, but if the people see the potential in it then they can earn a livelihood out of it. And this is how the Earth5R team has envisioned a project that aims to create a sustainable development through recycling. It is not just about creating ideas, but creating something out of those ideas. And this is how they’ve thought of conducting a workshop about recycling papers.

The team has conducted a paper bag making workshop in Powai, Mumbai to the new interns from different countries namely; Andrea Fung from Peru, Safiya Tyebally and Qiaomei Lee from Singapore, Jersey Austria from Philippines, Libby  Ballou and Ian Haave from U.S.A, and Danielle Grew from U.K. These interns have joined Earth5R via AIESEC Navi Mumbai.

The new recruits would be working together in a single project to conduct several workshops. They learned how to create paper bags out of old newspapers and how they can create eco-friendly glue; that is truly affordable. The training was provided by Sunny Singh from India. Other participants included Sanchit Soni from Bilaspur, Bharati Marathe, Jahaan Gupta, Sharad Vegda and Saurabh Gupta from Mumbai.

Papers can be used in a million ways and paper bag is just one of them. Paper bags can be seen in any boutique and stores all over the world and these bags can done by anyone with a creative mind. The best part of it, is that it can be done through recycling.

The process of creating a paper bag through recycling is very simple and the materials needed can be found anywhere. This could beneficial to everyone. It can create a livelihood while helping alleviate trashes. Creating a paper bag out of recyclable materials is one of the best things one can do to help lessen the numbers of papers being thrown to the dump sites. Through this, they can create their own paper bags from different types of recycled papers.

Interns getting their hands on bag making

The new interns first learned the art of creating their very own eco-friendly glue. The glue they used was made from flour. These flours are used to create chapatti and roti; and it’s very accessible to everybody. It can easily be bought and seen anywhere in India. And the best thing about using flour, as the main ingredient, is that it’s very cheap.

Who would’ve thought that flour can become an ingredient in creating glue? The process was very simple; all you need is to stir the flour in boiling water and wait until it becomes really thick. And after sometime, they waited for it to cool down so it can be used as glue for the paper bags.

Team learning how to make chemical free home made glue.

Now that they have created the glue, the next thing they’ll need is a paper. After creating the glue, they then proceeded to the paper bag making workshop. The interns learned the process of creating paper bags from the earth5r trainer. He thought them the step by step process. They used old newspapers to create a paper bag. They used some old newspapers for the workshop, but any paper can do the work.

Recycling old newspapers is one of the best materials one can use. It will help lessen the garbage’s thrown to the dumps and it will help create shopping bags more eco-friendly. The process of making a newspaper is very simple; it just needs a scissor, glue, and a paper.

After learning the step by step process they then proceeded to create their very own recycled paper bags.The new interns then created several paper bags made of newspaper. And after they’ve mastered the technique, they then created a paper bag out of brown hard eco-friendly papers. The interns have created paper bags out of  newspapers and brown eco-papers. And afterwards, they signed it with their names and messages. The paper bags they’ve made are going to be used as packaging for yeti soaps.

The interns learned how to create the bags by working together. It ignited the teamwork within them. They helped each other get the work done through team work. They didn’t just learn the art of creating a paper bag, they also learned the importance of recycling and how it can benefit everyone.

The workshop is not just about learning how to create a paper bag, but it created a new knowledge and awareness among the new interns. The things that they learned will be taught to the people living in slum areas. The aim of the project is to help the people see the importance of recycling and to help them create a livelihood out of it.

Happy and satisfied!

-Reported by Ma. Jersey May P. Austria