Try your hand at 'upcycling'!

At a recent event called the Kabaad Mela at Phoenix MarketCity Kurla, various ‘upcycled’ projects made by enthusiastic eco warriors, were showcased. Upcycling, for starters, is defined as, ‘The process of transforming byproducts, waste material, useless unwanted products into new materials or products for better environmental value.’ So, these projects were the best entries and were part of a competition held by Proinnovate, a company that is known to club innovation with education.

Projects on display

Various projects were displayed at the mela including polygenic raincoat (using waste plastic bags), paper lamps (using waste newspapers), cupative lantern (using discarded glass cups), among many others. The mela's most popular element was the ‘live upcycling corner’ where various waste materials were kept and visitors could try their hand at upcycling. We tried upcycling a pair of old denim pants into a sling bag and the result was fantastic. How about giving it a try?

Step 1: Cut around the edges of the pockets of the jeans in a way that the pockets can be used.

Step 2: Use the scissors to punch a tiny cut on the top of the pockets in a way that a string can be attached to it. Tie a knot at the edges of the string and voila, a sling bag is ready! This can be used either as a sling bag or as a bag to store stationery, remote controls, etc.