Saahas is a Bangalore based NGO which has been striving in recycling waste safely for 9 years now. They contribute in finding solutions to problems related to solid waste and have devised some awareness programmes as well. Bangalore generates 3,000 tons of household & commercial waste everyday, wherein 70% of is organic and the other balance is accounted by inorganic and hazardous waste. These wastes that we generate everyday can be brought back into our environment and our lives.
Saahas has undertaken many projects and delivered great results. They are currently working on :
- Reduction in use-and-throw products like plastic carry bags, paper cups and tissues
- Encouraging waste segregation at source and retrieval of recyclable material
- Encouraging the composting of organic waste
- Introducing safe management of e-Waste in households, companies and school
My role as A designer:
A 9 months internship under Saahas has diversified my way of thinking and my skills. The need to break away from the confined walls of classrooms and get on the field was challenging. Everyday facing the client’s need and meeting up deadlines, working round the clock resulted in designing products which are currently being used. I did a lot of research work for a long period of time before getting to the final product. I realized that what is more important is the concept behind the work, the process which I have been carrying over, back and forth with corrections and changes, shows that there was definitely a problem out there, and designers should get to know how to tackle them.
“Being part of the solution, meant creating them as well.”
We wanted to be globe trotters, we designed a website.
We initiated programmes in schools, we designed game activities.
We started “less plastic campaigns”, we designed cloth bags.
We wanted to use as much of the resources we had in hand to design a product – we designed bins.
It was very important to show the outcomes through my final year project and sustain our credibility vis–a-vis the public.
I have taken up the re-branding aspect of the company and slowly have merged in creating sources of awareness. It was more of a learning process on how to use eco-friendly, recyclable materials and being cost-effective in the designs I intake to carry forward.
Designing the products and delivering them as a real life projects was something I found challenging. This project has made me a versatile designer as I have been able to produce all these designs using waste as my resource and shaped my ideas around them into a product ready to use now.
Medias : Stationery designs, web design, poster, brochure, promotional design, Game design, Bin design, Bag design.
