Recycled paper is becoming popular, attest NGOs Tara (a division Development Alternatives) and Sewa Ashram, who are running handmade recycled paper units.

Both these organisations do Instead, paper sorting is done accord Ing to the required colour, that is waste of blue paper is used for making blue paper. To add strength to the paper pulp, cotton and silk textile waste is also added to it. In Delhi, there are at least 1,000 kabaris dealing In cotton textile trimmings sold by tailors and garment manufacturers.

Because of the great demand of handmade recycled paper abroad, there has been a spurt in paper recycling units in Delhi. Says Abhay Sinddhain of Jan Sewa Ashram, "Earlier, there were only 1 or 2 units in Delhi but now there must be about 60 units which are working with paper." Many of these new units are gen- erally value added resellers, that Is, they use handmade paper to make shopping bags, greeting cards and file covers.

Jan Sewa itself tikes waste paper from individuals, offices and in return gives them handmade paper stationery worth the market. value of the waste brought by the customer. This year Jan Sewa hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 5-8 lakh.

Jan Sewa is also trying to sell wall hangings made out of woven plastic waste at their Delhi outlet. In one of their environmental education programmes in Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh), they have trained children to put their plastic and paper wastes in separate bins. This is collected by the volunteers of the organisation who cut thin strips of polythene bags, roll them into thin strings to give it strength and then weave them into colourfully patterned wall hangings.

People Tree Is one shop which buys handmade paper and convetts it into stationery like notepads, letterheads, diaries. To make It more customer oriented, they add their own designs. They also sell patchwork kurtas made out of textile waste. Orijit Sen. one of the initiators of People Tree, says, "in 4 years, our turnover has Increased 5 times."