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Cleaning up India's streets

We look at two projects that turn plastic and cigarette butt waste into everyday products while providing jobs for Indian women living in villages.

The world produces about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. A lot of this waste, such as multi-layered plastic packaging and cigarette butts, is hard to recycle. Instead, it fills up landfills and contaminates the environment.

We travel to the Indian city of Pune where eco-social company Recharkha upcycles plastic packaging waste into contemporary products like tote bags, lampshades and table mats. It relies on village women鈥檚 handicraft using traditional spinning wheels or charkhas, simultaneously helping tackle rural unemployment.

We also head to another Indian city, Noida, where an organisation works with local women to safely turn millions of cigarette butts into clean fluffy material to be used in stuffed toys - among other products.

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Presenter: Myra Anubi
Producer/reporter: Chhavi Sachdev
Sound mix: Andrew Mills/Ardila Syakriah
Editor: Jon Bithrey

(Image: Women who work at the Recharka project, Recharka)

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