St. James’ student scripts a ‘waste-cloth’ recycle revolution

Was it social entrepreneurship skills or a desire to stop cloth-waste in the textile factory? You can call it a combination of both. Kolkata boy, fifteen-year-old Tanay Jain wanted to upcycle, in a bid to utilize the cloth-wastes from his family’s manufacturing unit in a constructive way-helping children and poor artisans as well contributing to mother nature. Young Tanay, a student of St James school, will be appearing for ICSE examination this year. He was shocked to see cloth-waste during his first visit to his father’s manufacturing unit, two years back in 2018.

Tanay Jain

“I had gone to my father’s manufacturing unit on the inauguration day in 2018 and found there were lot of small pieces of clothes stocked inside boxes. To my utter astonishment, I learnt from my father that these were all waste and had been discarded. My aunt and I decided immediately to do something with these clothes-waste,” Tanay told Get Bengal.

Tanay Jain wanted to upcycle, in a bid to utilize the cloth-wastes from his family’s manufacturing unit in a constructive way-helping children and poor artisans as well contributing to mother nature.

Tanay, along with his aunt, chalked out an innovative idea. Tanay’s friends Raunak Sarawgi, Pratham Madhogaria and Raunak Seksaria, who are also students of St James School and Prerana Mohta formed a team. And what emerged was phenomenal. The attempt to stop cloth-waste from his father’s unit, transformed lives of many underprivileged children of orphanages in Kolkata and outside.

“My father encouraged us and my aunt Vandana Jain and I decided to start upcycling clothes. We made clothes for poor children from the cloth-wastes. That was how Katran Foundation was born in 2018,” Tanay said. Till date, Tanay and his aunt have upcycled 3,500 metres of clothes and 2500 children have been benefitted through it. The Katran Foundation has also deployed 58 underprivileged and marginalized artisans till date for the dress manufacturing work and distributed them to poor children. They connected with various NGOs and orphanages for dress distribution.

From January 2021, Tanay's friends helped him for the social media campaign while Vandana, Tanay’s aunt, manages the organizational and manufacturing work, Tanay and his friends are connecting with NGOs and running social media campaigns for donations for the clothes. “We need donations as the artisans need to be paid for stitching. The manufacturing unit of Onaya, my father’s factory premises, is being used for production of clothes. Then, we donate the clothes through NGOs or directly,” Tanay said.

Tanay is aware about huge cloth-wastes in the manufacturing industry that are contributing to massive damage to the environment. Except for some landfills, most of the wastes from the cloth manufacturing industry work as a major pollutant.

Initially, it was all within the family. “I donated money on my birthday. Our relatives were supportive when they learnt about our initiative. They donated on occasions like their birthdays and anniversaries. That was how we paid the artisans for their job. We had run it in this manner for more than one year and was just planning to expand, when COVID-19 pandemic struck. In January 2021, with my friends, I started social media campaigning and it worked well. We have opened an Instagram Page for Katran Foundation and the response is very positive,” he added.

Tanay is aware about huge cloth-wastes in the manufacturing industry that are contributing to massive damage to the environment. Except for some landfills, most of the wastes from the cloth manufacturing industry work as a major pollutant. Keeping in mind the environmental concern, Tanay chose to start the work right from his own family’s manufacturing unit and minimize the waste.

Katran Foundation has tied up with around 25 NGOs in Kolkata and various parts of the country for distribution of clothes to the beneficiaries. Among these, 15-16 NGOs are from Kolkata while others are outstation..

“I know that the huge amount of fabric goes to waste. There are so many cloth manufacturing units operating in the country. It is really a serious concern. So, I started work from my father’s own manufacturing unit. We have started receiving orders while my aunt looks after upcycling the waste and manufacturing work. Lot of people should know about it and thus we are emphasizing on the campaign,” Tanay added.

Among others, Katran Foundation has worked with Kolkata based NGO ‘Hath Baralei Bondhu’, which works with underprivileged children in slums. “We work with poor and underprivileged children. Katran Foundation had approached us and they wanted to donate clothes to slum children and street children. The clothes were beautiful and the children liked them,” said Mousumi Ghosh, who works for the NGO.  

Katran Foundation has tied up with around 25 NGOs in Kolkata and various parts of the country for distribution of clothes to the beneficiaries. Among these, 15-16 NGOs are from Kolkata while others are outstation. “The Foundation, with the help of NGOs, has distributed clothes in Kolkata and other parts of the country, including New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Assam’s Guwahati. We generally distribute these dresses for children who are poor and underprivileged and are happy to bring a smile to them,” Vandana Jain, Tanay’s aunt said.