A glamorous afterlife: Turning trash into bags………Sharmila Ganesan-Ram
A young designer turns non-biodegradable tetrapacks into alluring purses, laptop covers and other products
Some months ago,the Bajaj scooter rose gracefully from its grave in one mans imagination.However,it didnt appear like a noisy,stammering middle-class warning for family planning but had assumed the posture of an elegant,laidback vehicle of individual comfort instead.With the urgency of a retired man who had just discovered his purpose,the scooter quickly shed its hiccupping seat and sturdy handles and started pushing its veteran body,replete with protruding headlights,to become resourceful once again.Soon,a relaxing foam seat lined the inside of its body,sleek plastic legs sprouted below and a rather good-looking chair jumped to life.In a scattered way,the Bajaj had received a work extension to serve people once again,albeit as static furniture.And today,product designer Suren Vikhashs firm is busy supplying a hard copy of his makeover fantasy to excited interior designers.
For over a year now,Thunk In India,Vikhashs Bangalore-based firm,has been preoccupied with granting a glamorous afterlife to various such stubborn products that refuse to be recycled.Since January 2009,such nonbiodegradable waste products as polythene bags,thermocole,and tetra juice packs have transformed into clutches,laptop bags and mobile covers in their pension phase.Thunks sling and beach bags are a rage with tourists in Goa,laptop covers are lapped up by corporates in Bangalore while its multi-coloured clutches are hot favourites in Delhis boutiques.And from next month,five stores in Mumbai too will start stocking these products all of which originally came from a stench-ridden landfill,where some time ago,Vikhash sniffed opportunity.
In 2008,as a final-year product design student in Bangalore,Vikhashs mind was obsessed with the need to employ lateral thinking to solve problems like waste management.He interned with Daily Dump,a firm that converted organic waste into manure.Here,his job was to create a composter,a machine that converted food waste into manure without taking up too much space.While at it,Vikhash came across various experts in the field of waste management who were involved with managing different kinds of wasteelectronic,organic and industrial.As an off-shoot of his final-year project,Vikhash visited various landfills across Bangalore,where he saw chemicals from the heaps of waste slowly seeping into the soil and the water table beneath it.Here,he saw that products which could have been recycled were losing their properties after mixing with each other.
The Coimbatore boy explains with an example only a Tamilian can give: In your inhouse garbage bag,waste like papers mix with things like electronic batteries and sambar,and end up forming new chemicals that make the products non-recyclable. And there was only one per cent chance of the bag being opened before it reached the landfill,he discovered.
* SCUM BAGS: The sling and beach bags produced by Suren Vikhashs firm are a rage in Goa