Madhu Raj, recycling clothes and giving back to mother nature

Dwarka: Having a wardrobe full of clothes that no one wears anymore is very common in any household. You certainly can't wear anything forever and there comes a time when no one really knows what to do with the old clothes. However, Madhu Raj (47), a resident of Dwarka sector 6, known how to put the clothes in right use as she turns those clothes into bags.

Madhu Raj is the founder of Recycled bags & quilts forum and is also an alumni from NIFT 2013 batch. Along wit this, she also owns an artificial jewelry shop in Sector 7, Ramphal Chowk Dwarka. The business of recycling clothes wasn't how Madhu's career started. Before this, she worked with private companies as an export team head for 3 to 4 years. By observing the system closely, she understood the shortcomings of the system and decided to do something about them. "I used to see a tons of waste generated everyday and there was no one to look after it. Then I decided to quit my job and do something about it" says Madhu.

She took a break from her career and started researching about how to solve this problem. In 2013, she finally started her forum to help environment by recycling the clothes. She also employs underprivileged people to help them provide a livelihood through her company.

Madhu hails from Bihar and her childhood was spent in the lap of nature. She has always been an a nature lover and decided to find a way to give back to the society. Through her company, she wants to contribute towards the waste management in he clothing industry. "Tons of cloth waste is produced by boutiques and even in our houses. People did not know what to do with it. They just throw it which adds to the waste generation" says Madhu. Madhu Raj and her team collects waste from boutiques and make quilts and bags out of it. They also collect waste clothes from people and turn those into beautiful bags.

This journey wasn't very easy for Madhu. "People used to say what I was doing was useless. There were lots of taunts coming my way and no onw was showing any support", says Madhu. However, her willingness towards her cause was strong enough to withstand those comments. Even through all the negativity, what kept her motivated was her desire to give back to the nature.

She uses her creativity to design bags and quilts out of waste clothes and designs everything herself. "I feel very happy and proud of myself when people come and thank me for my work" says Madhu. Through her company, Madhu aspires to raise awareness about the cloth waste among people and wants to work towards minimalizing that waste.