7,000 handmade paper bags made from waste plastic distributed by Khadi at PM's swearing-in ceremony

Around 7,000 handmade paper carry bags made from waste plastic were distributed at the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the 16th Prime Minister of the country, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) said.

A unit of KVIC, Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI) at Jaipur, supplied the handmade paper bags for the dignitaries present at the oath taking ceremony to keep water bottles.

Modi is also the biggest brand ambassador of KVIC.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said, "It was like 'Khadi India' was saluting its patron from all angles at that event. If Khadi's growth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term is any indication, we are all set to add many more feathers in Khadi's cap in the coming days," he said.

According to a statement by KVIC, the paper bags were made under KVIC's project REPLAN (REducing PLAstic in Nature) and its manufacturing process involved waste plastic being collected, cleaned, chopped, beaten and given chemical treatment for softness.

After that, it was mixed with paper raw material, that is, cotton rags pulp in a ratio of 80 per cent (pulp) and 20 per cent (plastic waste) and finally sheets were made from it, the statement said.

Saxena said nothing can be a better example of following Prime Minister's clarion call of 'Swachhata Abhiyaan' than REPLAN by KVIC.

"REPLAN had not only derived a proportional yet novel way to reduce the plastic menace, one of the biggest problems of contemporary world, but also revived this 26-year-old KNHPI to make the institution self-reliant," he said.

KNHPI has supplied over seven lakh handmade paper bags and consumed over 17 metric tonnes of plastic waste in its manufacturing, the statement said.