Plastic ban turns blessing in disguise for rural women in Odisha

As the nation-wide ban imposed on single-use plastic has gained momentum, the Self Help Women’s group of Sambalpur in Odisha has come up with a viable alternative – Sal leaf products – that has caught the imagination of almost every citizen in the country.

Sambalpur: The country-wide ban imposed on single-use plastic has proved to be a boon for the Self Help Women’s group of Sambalpur in Odisha.

The district administration of Sambalpur is patronizing the Self Help Women's groups in Gumei area under the Rengali forest range, engaged in preparing plates from Sal leaves, to establish this business to meet people's requirements in the absence of plastic disposables.

The administration is now giving necessary training and providing machinery to make the plates in an advanced manner instead of the traditional method.

The effort is not only spreading awareness against the use of plastic but also making these women independent and self-reliant.

Sal leaves which are available in abundant quantity in the dense forest of this area are being provided to these women free of cost. The women go to the forest in the morning and after collecting the sal leaves, prepare traditional plates and bowls from the leaves at the training centre in the forest office.

Later, these hand-made plates are dried up in the sun and stitched in sewing machines. These stitched leaf plates are put in a pressing machine and given shape. These plates fetch a high market price compared to traditional plates and bowls.

Earlier, one woman was able to prepare 100 plates per day but thanks to the machines, the production has increased to 500 plates per day. Similarly, the cost of one plate was 70 paise which now fetches as much as Rs 3.50.

This initiative is being accelerated with the combined efforts of Sambalpur district administration, forest department, Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) and Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM), however, the programme was initiated by the Odisha Forest Section Development project under Sambalpur Forest Division.

As of now, the forest department has provided 10 sewing machines and four pressing machines. According to the district administration, all necessary arrangements would be made to set up a permanent training centre in the area.

Sukanta Tripathy, project director of the district rural development agency, said going forward the arrangements would be made to supply machinery to the SHGs free of cost out of the CRS fund to the local industrial establishments.

"At present, the leaf plates are being sent to Goa. In the days to come these products will be dispatched to Raipur, Bhopal and Kolkata. These products would also be made available in the local market," Tripathy added.