. Moreover, to make sure the utility doesn’t suffer, the bags can carry three to 20 kg, depending on their size.Interestingly, Green Yatra tried this model on a pilot basis in 2012. However, when they’re told about it by their own children, they’re all ears—it makes a difference. But the city-based entrepreneur wasn’t just going to stop at that. The objective, this time around, was to adopt a day-to-day practice of saving the environment. “These bags are then used in exchange for scrap collected from societies, encouraging them not to use plastic variants.  While some material from this is distributed to people in rural areas, the discarded cloth is used to make recycled bags. Pradeep is proud of the fact that the cause is not just helping the environment, but also the women involved earn money out of it.“According to statistics, Mumbai has merely one tree per four people in the city. Made from cotton, canvas, jute and other natural material, the NGO has ensured they are available in different sizes and designs.”To that end, Green Yatra has spread its wings across Pune and Ahmedabad too, collaborating with more than 200 societies and over 200 schools and colleges across India in the process. two color injection molding machine Factory But now was the time we decided to take it on a much larger scale.“We help people understand the steps they can take daily to help the environment from damage,” adds Pradeep. But we want to change this scenario, and make Mumbai a green city,” he optimistically concludes.“The recycled bags from discarded cloth is made in training centres that employ rural women, who earn some money per bag,” says Pradeep.Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival that’s celebrated with much pomp and gaiety, especially in Mumbai.” The entrepreneur hopes to plant 10 crore trees by 2025, while simultaneously promoting Bag for a Cause. “It’s an online tree plantation drive,” says Pradeep. “The idea is to encourage changing the whole system of gifting. “This exchange of scrap for bags was happening on a smaller scale.In another effort to tap the youth, the NGO started a popular Ped Lagao campaign, which  helped it plant 1.


“A lot of times, people aren’t interested in listening about cleaner environment.3 lakh trees in Ambadi and Karjat.And it’s this campaign that gave birth to their latest one, Bag for a Cause.“I started with biodegradable Ganesha so that the beaches wouldn’t be cluttered with Plaster of Paris after immersions,” explains Pradeep.”Pedh LagaoThe NGO runs various campaigns, all based on environmental causes. Instead of bouquets, we aim to replace it with tree plantations.”As a result of this expansion, the NGO has received more than 5,000 calls from housing societies across India, who wish to exchange scraps for bags—a win-win situation for all.This was exactly what prompted Pradeep Tripathi to start Go Green Ganeshas in 2008. The NGO currently boasts of 15 members and over 100 volunteers, most of them young adults, who work on everything from educating individuals on sustainable living to making Mumbai green. “A woman can make anywhere between 15 and 100 bags a day at our centre,” he asserts. One of them, Zarurat, is based on reducing, reusing and recycling.”These reusable and economical bags are also durable and washable.Noticing that many back then didn’t indulge in healthy environmental activities, he went on to form the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Green Yatra just two years later in 2010. However, environmentalists and nature lovers have expressed dismay at the undissolved debris and water brimming with waste that the visarjan at the end of the festival brings about.

The NGO collects old household items like clothes, furniture and books. “They can earn a good amount of money out of it, in addition to being able to take care of their family and household chores as well. The initiative is working towards ridding society of deadly plastic, non-woven bags, and e-waste, all while empowering underprivileged and tribal women. “The youth will always be our focus,” he says, confidently. “We have been running the training centre in Bhiwandi and Ambadi area since 2012,” Pradeep says. “By saving electricity, water, paper and going green in their everyday lives, these small steps can have a great impact on our lives. He took to manufacturing biodegradable idols in the early days of the wave of eco-friendly Ganeshas, with the sole aim of creating a cleaner environment. Not only do the societies get a bag for free, they also end up supporting the environmental cause and women empowerment.”Along with empowering women, Pradeep believes that the key to environment conservation lies with the youth. It’s worrisome.