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| Leelamma Mathew, Vellakulangara, near Adoor, Pathanamthitta |
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67-year-old
Leelamma fashioned a wardrobe using plastic milma milk packets not to keep her
dresses in it. Or even to keep the
various artifacts she has been handcrafting in her spare time. It is a statement of hers how 4000 milk
covers could be productively used to create something useful without ending up
as part of garbage or toxic smoke in the sky.
Leelamma
has been creative since her childhood with various things but the potential use
of milk packets had not occurred to her.
When someone woke her to the perils of plastic burning and plastic burying,
she decided to at least convert the milk covers in her home into some artifact.
The first
item she crafted was a purse. She pursued
her new found hobby once it became a hit in her neighbourhood. Soon she diversified into cans, bags,
containers etc. Her products are not
just for showcase but for everyday use too.
One of her
relatives took a snap of her products and that spread the word among the wider public
about her skill and environmental drive.
Soon the Milma authorities contacted her and honoured her.
She collects
milk covers from the neighbourhood also.
It is with such raw materials retrieved from a potential waste, that she
had created her wardrobe.
Valli
Sarvani (text), fusion.werindia.com, September
9, 2022
