Aarohana Ecosocial Developments Pvt. Ltd started by Amita Deshpande journey has been totally transformative

A very innovative method to recycle plastic waste into handicrafts by using traditional charkha and handloom, keeping the environment clean and also giving livelihood to rural and tribal people.

This journey began in 2013 when Amita Deshpande decided to leave her highly lucrative job in the US and come back to India. In 2015 she started recharkha the brand name for her ecosocial venture with her husband Abhishek Paranjape with Rs one lakh as capital.

According to her farming is dependent on the monsoon in India, hence, there is no work for farmers in the remaining months. Recharkha is not only upskilling the community but also giving them a stable income.

The organization claims to have used 7 lakh plastic packets to convert them into usable products in a year.

Archana came up with this unique concept of upcycling plastic carry bags or polybags into trendy handicrafts by utilizing the old methods of weaving. The upcycled materials are then converted into beautiful bags, fashion accessories, and home décor items.

The process involves collecting plastic around Pune. A team of 15 people cleaned, washed, sanitized, and dried the waste further segregated it according to their color, and then sent it to a unit in Dadar once in three months. A team of another 15 people then make a yarn out of the waste, transforming it into beautiful products.

Almost 70% of the workforce are women and she has hired physically challenged people too.

Sales were not easy in the beginning as people found the price to be high for products made out of waste. Then she made a video of the whole process of making the final products, which convinced people and now these videos are played at all exhibitions, workshops, and WhatsApp and other social media platforms.

Soon after she launched her website to sell online. Her products are quite popular as corporate gifts. The cost of products is in the range of Rs.550 to Rs.3800. Currently, the turnover of the company has grown to Rs2 crore.

The team comprises 61 members out of which 55 are local artisans working at two different units with a total area of 2000 sq. ft.

Their mission is covering major Indian initiatives like, “conserving our environment and heritage”, “enabling rural households” and “creating conscious consumers”.

Amita, though had her struggles to come up to this level as she had to give up her promising career in the US but the fruits of her labour have helped her combat all kinds of problems and brought her so much satisfaction as she is contributing so much towards society socially and also environmentally.