Highlights
- Ms Thakur reuses plastic bottles for making flower pots and pen stands
- Half of the decoration pieces in her hotel are made from reusable products
- She takes free classes in reuse and recycling household items in her hotel
Manali: Mrs India 2017 finalist Kalpana Thakur is recycling hotel disposable waste and reusing it in making paper baskets, lamps, flowers pots, bird feeding stations and even jewellery. The 43-year-old, an hotelier based in Himachal Pradesh’s ‘The Byke Neelkanth’ picturesque tourist resort, told IANS: “This initiative, though small, is proving to be a grand success and helps motivating my guests to learn the art of reuse the household waste sensibly and too in a greener way.”
In her hotel in Prini village, Ms Thakur is using utilised cooking oil for igniting lamps, discarded paper napkins, egg traps and packaging material for making ornaments and fruit baskets and plastic bottles of aerated beverages for making flower pots, pen stands and bird feeding stations.
This art of recycling, she said, is in fact giving a big boost to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Campaign and will work wonders to save the environment for the future generations.
Ms Thakur, who spent her initial years in a remote village in Lahaul Valley in Lahaul-Spiti district, said earlier she was known as a “waste warrior” in Manali as she used to collect plastic waste, tetra packs and tins dumped haphazardly in the markets and tourist spots.
Initially, I used to collect them and dump them appropriately. Later, I started using them in making decoration pieces. I learnt this art of reuse via videos on YouTube, said Mrs Thakur, who is passionate about fitness.
In the Red Cross exhibitions, Ms Thakur is exhibiting the reused products and selling them.
Whatever profit I am earning from the exhibitions, the sale proceeds goes to the charity and social cause, said the mother of two.
She is vying for the Mrs India Pageant on July 4 in Chennai.
She said in her hotel too more than half of the decoration pieces are made from reusable products.
Even for my guests in the hotel, I am holding classes free of cost. I am educating them how to recycle household items. My basic purpose is to develop their habit of reusing the household waste, said a beaming Ms Thakur, who believes her family is the motivating spirit for sharpening her ‘greener’ sense.
Also Read: Yes, It Is Possible To Lead A Zero Waste Lifestyle. Take A Cue From This 26-Year Old Bengaluru Woman
