Bengaluru: In India, paper is used on a big scale. It is even recycled. However, recycling doesn’t happen on a big scale. People just discard it. 

Neerja Palisetti, from Jaipur, recycles paper massively. 

From these recycled papers, she creates a lot of decorative items. 

She says, “I am a textile innovator and I have 18 years of experience in academia and industry. We make fabric that is made of unconventional material. The fabric is usually Lenin, wool or cotton based. But we do not use all this and weave the paper around us and we use this to make a thread. I belong to a family of weavers. I inherited the craft, but I always used to make something useful out of old and useless things.” 

Neerja has even published a research paper in this regard. She adds, “I was doing research on paper re-cycling, how paper waste can be used to make a useful product. I have also published a research paper on this subject. When I came to know about Japan's paper weaving concept, I felt that it can be used in Indian environment.” 

After putting in phenomenal efforts on her research, she started Sutrakar Creation 2016. 

With this startup, her dreams have been realised. In fact, she has even employed several people. It is important to note that they create more than 40 types of products. 

Neerja says, "People generally think that paper products are not very strong. I would like to say that there is no versatile material like paper and no other material. Even if you dip the newspaper in water, it does not melt completely. And when it is cut and twisted and spun, it becomes even stronger, and then its strength is still visible. When a thread is made from paper and then fabric it becomes very strong.”