Posts Tagged ‘india’

Roses of Seemapuri

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I have been meaning to share for a more than a week now the latest update from Rolando Politi, New York legend and founder of the trash worship movement. Rolando has long supported an all-woman waste picker’s collective in India and shares, along with these lovely photos, the news that you, too, may support their work by purchasing a flower made from salvaged materials.

Women making flowers

Women making flowers

From Rolando:

The co-op in seemapuri is known as “kabad se jugad” (waste improvs) . Right now  initial start up funds have all been spent for tools, supplies and rent. KSJ has decided to continue on the risky road of being all independent and self sustaining by the export sales of their unique flowers and mobiles!  The price for one flower is $30 (includes export shipping) but if you order multiples, the cost is only $25 each. To order please send mail to recycleandpray@gmail.com. Specify the quantities and your shipping instructions.
Bindi bulbs

Bindi bulbs

You need not pay until you receive the parcel in good order!  They make a great surprise gift for your loved ones. We ship anywhere in the world and a card from sender can be included! The number of women involved is directly proportional to the number of orders received and just one order for three flowers is enough for one women salary for one month!

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Posted in Artistic Trash | 4 Comments »

The Volta

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Happy new year, trashies!

The Volta has a fabulous trash issue up, which I suspect you will want to read in full. First of all, there are separate sections and each have names, including a section entitled Landfill.

Some highlights:

For those of you feeling a little academic in 2014, check out this thought-provoking essay by Ted Mathys on how we depict and describe garbage and waste pickers and why it matters.

Dana Maya has a prosy poem called Trash Talk that’s worth reading.

There’s a feature on artist Alice Notley, who makes fans from trash, a photo slide show of Dead Horse Bay and all kinds of other good stuff.

Image

Alice Notley fan made from trash via The Volta

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Posted in Artistic Trash, Intellectual Trash | 1 Comment »

All Women Waste Workers

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Feeling philanthropic? Rolando Politi, founder of the Yanbuki trash worshipers, has launched a fundraising campaign to support a project with women rag pickers in Delhi, India. The idea: teach the members of the women’s waste workers cooperative to make and sell trash art.

Trash flowers

The campaign states two aims, to generate income for the women and to destigmatize their work by creating something positive from the materials they collect.

For more on waste, recycling and the informal industry of rag picking in Delhi, check out the documentary Delhi Waste Wars.

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Posted in Artistic Trash, Trash Politics | 1 Comment »

Indian weddings

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Indian government estimates that 15% of the nation’s food grains are served and “wasted” at lavish wedding ceremonies. In an attempt to regulate that waste and keep up with a growing economy, India is looking to ban or restrict lavish weddings.

Saffron pudding, the only photo of food I took at the not-so-lavish Indian wedding I attended in December.

As care2 puts it:

But the government shouldn’t just try to control how people organize events, they also need to be responsible for how they distribute food, and it’s entirely possible that those networks are corrupt and inefficient.  So perhaps they can do both – encourage people to cut down on lavish spending, but also improve their own internal channels for bringing food to the poor.

via Wasted Food

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Posted in Trash Politics | 2 Comments »

Counterbalance

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

WITNESS, the organization that “uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations” made this short educational piece on trash pickers in India. Much like the dilemma at the center of Mai Iskander‘s film Garbage Dreams, trash pickers in India are seeing their livelihoods threatened as the government signs more and more contracts with foreign private waste hauling companies. This short and sweet video compares and contrasts New Dehli where trash pickers’ work has been eclipsed to New Dehli where the NGO Chintan has worked to integrate traditional trash pickers in waste and recycling collection even as the city modernizes its systems. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

Click here for more in this WITNESS project.

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Counterbalance

Friday, November 6, 2009

New Yorkers, save the date for November 14th. Quad Cinema will screen Counterbalance, a new film about waste pickers in Dehli as part of the 8th Annual Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival. Event starts at noon. $15 general admission, $12 students and IAAC members. Purchase tickets here. Check out the Facebook invite for details here.

wastepickers

Wastepickers, photo via Chintan

Here’s a description:

Every day, tens of thousands of waste pickers and waste recyclers in Delhi earn their income from collecting, selling and recycling trash. Their work, measured to be highly efficient, has not only been undervalued but even marginalized with the introduction of large private companies. This is the story of two municipalities in Delhi: one that has incorporated the work of the waste recyclers as part of the formal waste system, while the other has taken another direction.

Counterbalance is the product of a partnership between the video advocacy group WITNESS and the Indian environmental group Chintan. You can watch an interview with Bharati Chaturvedi, the film’s director and the founder and director of Chintan, here and here.

And for more about WITNESS, click here. For more about Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, click here.

Thanks for the tip, Elizabeth!

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Posted in Artistic Trash, TRA$H, Trash Politics, Upcycling | 1 Comment »

Original Good

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

As you know, everydaytrash.com is not a product pimping site. Of course, every once in a while we come across something made of trash with such a good story behind it, we just have to share. This evening, it’s these colorful bags made of old plastic bags by Conserve, a collective of women living in the slums of Delhi.

Sling Bag

Sling Bag

Given the tabloid coverage of the little girl from Slumdog Millionaire this week, it’s refreashing to see a skills-building, income generating, women’s empowerment program from India with such bright and hopeful products.

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Posted in Artistic Trash | 1 Comment »

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