Virtuous recycling
Ahmedabad: At a Saraspur unit, machines hum with green productivity, turning paper waste into notebooks, files, and pens; the recycling enterprise is powered by a cooperative of the city’s waste-picker women, Gitanjali, whose 2025-26 turnover was Rs 1.6 crore.
Paliben, the master trainer at the Saraspur facility, said, “Over the past three years, we have consistently kept the turnover above Rs 1 crore, and the earnings from the enterprise go to the hardworking women.” Few understand the value of recycling better than the women on the shopfloor, many of whom once collected waste paper from dumpsites. With Diwali round the corner, order sheets are full. The cooperative, part of the larger Sewa organisations, is supplying notebooks, ledgers, diaries, planners, files, gift boxes, pens and other items to corporates such as Adani, Tata , Cisco, Mindtree, and to various govt arms in Assam and Ladakh. Private schools in Gujarat and elsewhere are also Gitanjali clients. Having registered on the Govt e-Marketplace portal, the cooperative is also reaching out to more govt bodies.
What started with 50 members now has over 45,000. Usha Parmar, 45, a resident of Gomtipur, said she has been associated with Gitanjali for the past seven years. She said, “Earlier, I would collect wastepaper from morning to evening and would hardly have Rs 50-60 a day. Now I earn about Rs 8,000 a month. For Roshni Bharwad, 26, also from Gomtipur, the shift is about financial independence and self-identity.
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Anisa Shaikh, secretary of Sewa-Ahmedabad, said the organised work has brought change for members directly and indirectly. Earlier, I sorted waste my mother brought home,” she said. She added, “We constantly innovate based on observing other products available in the market, train women on different production machines, and also teach them skills such as identifying the right recycled paper and material based on orders. She added, “The income has helped me not only put my children in a private school but also to pool funds with my husband to buy a new home. “My family has been associated with waste-picking and sorting. I am helping my family financially and also saving for myself. Download the TOI App.
“But today, I can make almost everything that the Gitanjali roster has to offer.