City couple perfecting the art of recycling

Uppal: “They said it would fail. They mocked us. They also urged us to give up on our dream. But we had a hope. We knew that one day, it would change not just our fate but also of the several thousand craftsmen and women working in remote villages of the north-eastern part of the country along with those in our State," gleams Prashant Ligam, founder of the city based eco-friendly social enterprise, Bamboo House India.

From the Christmas tree made of bottles to the decorations put up for Ivanka Trump's visit during the GES, the couple had left no stone unturned to spread their message of "reduce, reuse and recycle", loud yet clear

Hardly did the 42-year-old know that what started as a hunt for an eco-friendly sofa with his wife Aruna Kappagantula on the Indo-Bangladesh borders would one day evolve into a smarter solution to tackle environmental issues plaguing the society.

From being largely involved in the promotion of bamboo housing in both the urban and rural sections of the country to actively being engaged in the recycling of scrap material discarded by the city's municipality, Bamboo House India is again highlighting the need for a change to a healthier and plastic-free lifestyle.

"Initially we had received a lot of criticism, rejections, and dejections when we shared that we wanted to start a business out of bamboo. Even our family was apprehensive about the idea. We had just started our married life and a new business especially involving a lot of risks was a great cause of concern for them.

But even during a rough phase where there was no business happening and debts kept mounting like sand on a river bank, all we could invest was on hope and one chance. The hardship was not in promoting the concept but in transforming the traditional mindsets all around us. But today, we are happy that we are successful in making a difference if not in the entire society but at least in a few of them." expresses Prashant.

Having said that the social entrepreneur doesn't deny that the lows they met, had a severe impact on their economic conditions and social life. Hence, they also looked for alternative ways to convey their message and make money to invest in constructing the bamboo houses." For a year or so, we barely could eat a meal for the day and my wife was carrying our child. It was a very delicate situation.

Even my mother got tired telling me to earn a sustainable livelihood, but I and my wife did not want to give up. So that is when we took up recycling as a subsidiary means to keep the money flowing.

But luckily, our last attempt to convince people about eco-friendly houses was successful and our efforts began to show positive results with more clients adding every year. However, we decided to keep doing various recycling activities to keep the motto of a clean society alive." shares the 42-year-old.

Using their out-of-the-box thinking methods, the business graduate and his wife were successful in turning what is supposed to be disposed wastes into beautiful structures and contemporary furniture. Tyres of a tractor became arms of a wooden bench, plastic water bottles became show-pieces for lighting houses and drums were remodelled into comfortable and chairs, all at a minimal cost.

Their innovations inspired GHMC Zonal Commissioner Hari Chandana to involve them in the beautification drive od the area. From the Christmas tree made of bottles to the decorations put up for Ivanka Trump's visit during the GES, the couple had left no stone unturned to spread their message of "reduce, reuse and recycle", loud yet clear.

But recently, the duo has come up with a grand plan to convert the society's plastic into tiles which could be used on footpaths, floors and false ceilings taking the game of town planning and interior designing to another level.

"Like our bamboo houses, even these tiles made of melted plastic would be fire, water, and termite proof. You would be surprised to know that these tiles can support up to 20 tonnes of weight and still under the process of being designed into various varieties.

Currently, the process of production is based out of Delhi with plastic wastes in the neighbourhood and we can't say whether we'll extend its operations here until we analyse the response of people towards this initiative.

But all I can assure you is once this project takes off, we might easily be able to achieve an environment without hazards due to plastic use." says Prashant.

If each of us thinks the way this couple did, won't you think Swachh Bharat would be ground reality and not a distant dream?!