June 5th is the World Environment Day and the inspiring story of these two youngsters is a testament to how much recycling is needed to save our planet that we so dearly inhabit- specifically in the fashion textile industry.
Textile cloth often ends up in landfills when the cloth does not meet the narrow/precise requirements of their clients, the cloth is sent to landfills, creating a lot of unnecessary trash. And these two have shown utmost kindness to not just the environment but to the underserved population as well, making them the heroes of this kindness story!
As we at aidbees celebrate the World Environment Day today, we bring you a remarkable journey of kindness, dedication and sustainability by Threads4Good – a non profit initiative established and run by two high school teenagers and their feat of recycling over 2000 Kgs of textile waste- for a larger purpose.
It was during the monsoon of 2022 that 16 year old Tejas Pugalia from Mumbai was teaching some children from the slums. As it rained heavily, Tejas realised that these children are not able to attend school during the monsoon months due to the lack of bags- an essential accessory to protect their books and belongings.
He also faced the harsh truth that 90% of poor children in India do not go to schools during monsoons. This is where the seed for doing something meaningful got planted in his brain. Tejas reached out to his friend Dhrishit, who’s also the same age as him and had observed a similar crisis of school bags or torn school stationary within underprivileged children while travelling to Mount Abu. Both of their revolutionary energies together lead to the formation of Threads4Good!
Threads4Good is a social initiative focusing on the intertwined challenges of education, environmental sustainability & social inclusion. They aim to reduce the impact that the fashion industry has through upcycling textile waste and making school bags for the underprivileged children. Not only this, this youth led organisation works in 6 cities in India- Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Delhi and Gurgaon and has expanded to working in Canada as well.
The next question arises of how these school-going teenagers manage to do so much and what are their initiatives. An excited Tejas recalls very well about how the group collects this waste and recycles it. It mainly happens through two ways:
1) They do collection drives of t-shirts, jeans, etc. from colonies and societies as well as from schools and corporate offices.
2) They also collect waste textile from mills and industries which would directly be burnt due to the dye not being soaked well and other reasons.
Once this textile waste has been gathered, the group moves to their next step- the organisation and rebuilding of it into usable and sturdy school bags. They provide employment opportunities to marginised and specially abled individuals as they employ them for stitching bags out of this waste.
A single step towards sustainability saves multiple spaces – the landfills from the textile industry, the marginalised population and at the end, the children who couldn’t dream of going to the school.
These two youngsters – along with a big group of like minded volunteers go from schools to companies to colonies and beyond to collect this textile waste. Their approach lies in reaching out to people and not just collecting, but also asking them to volunteer and join the mission. The numbers that Tejas and Dhrishit have seen are a testimony to their success.
Threads4Good has crafted and donated over 2,200 bags, recycled over 3000 pieces of textile, collected over 2000 kg of textile waste and has saved over 10.53 million litres of water. More than that, 35000 kg of CO2 has been saved and they have employed over 20 marginalised women. Their initiative has led to an increase of 56% in attendance rate in the schools where bags were donated.
As these young changemakers for the environment keep on heading ahead, they are joining more and more volunteers with the cause through provision of gift cards, community calls etc. They reach out to various communities through social media and also harness the power of networking through the Internet. The way Threads4Good has been able to solve a large chunk of relevant textile waste and a recycling of it to help the needy, it speaks volumes about what true dedication to a cause can do!
The multi-faceted approaches to solve the textile waste problem, along with employing disabled/widow or marginalised women to stitch these bags and providing children with necessary bags have resulted in the organisation giving an exuberant solution to three of these problems- education, sustainability and women empowerment!
Threads4Good does not limit itself to the material action, they also inspire and educate people through spreading the word about how climate consciousness is a reality and how we can save our environment. Various initiatives led by this cheerful group of school going teenagers have positively impacted thousands! – the numbers are proof of this.
As we find newer and better ways to conserve, protect and preserve our environment, the journey of Threads4Good serves as a prime example of how kindness towards a sustainable nature can help in so many ways. This story is not just a kindness story- it’s a call to action for so many youngsters like Tejas and Dhrishit to join the mission and make a difference!
Here’s to celebrating more changemakers like these two brilliant minds and to more success stories of sustainability!
aidbees is striving every day to see a kinder world. On their platform, the company is offering a one-stop solution for “kindness,” which is definitely the need of the hour. Beginning to do one kind act every day will inculcate kindness within our hearts naturally, and we can be looking to do that through aidbees. Come join us in the journey of making a kinder world!
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