These Assam School Students Are Building Toilets Out Of Plastic Waste!

Akshar Foundation, a small school for the underprivileged students of Pamohi, Assam has made the headlines for all the right reasons: recently, they have started to collect plastic waste from their students as school fees. Manifold in its benefits, this venture encouraged the community to be mindful about their plastic consumption and at the same time, ensured that more students join the school instead of working in the quarry. Little known to the rest of the world, this project is only a small part of Akshar’s ongoing plastic project – an effort to engage the students in being responsible citizens.

Akshar Forum has always stood apart in its ways: unlike other schools, Akshar does not believe in restricting students within the bounds of a fixed curriculum. Instead, it makes sure to focus on each students’ personal capacities and hone it. Instead of the routine “standards”, the students are segregated into “levels” that allow mingling of students of all ages. A student-to-student mentorship gives way to a warm, friendly atmosphere of learning at Akshar Forum. With their out-of-the-box way of doing things, it comes as no surprise that the school has been implementing a plastic recycling program for over two years now.

“Our aim to train the students such that they can earn a livelihood,” says Mr. Priyongsu Borthakur, Vice President of Akshar Forum. In this effort, the entire recycling program is carried out by students, from start to finish.

The students first collect plastic waste from families in the Pamohi village. The people of the village are now used to their house-to-house rounds, and often keep their plastic waste aside for the students. Working efficiently in teams, the students then bring all of this plastic to the school, where they stuff it into plastic bottles. “They stuff 150-200 wrappers manually into a single bottle – so many because the bottle has to be absolutely hard.” Mr. Borthakur explains.

In an hour, the students can make 2 such bottles – a fairly slow process. Though Mr. Borthakur is hopeful about adopting new technology that can speed up this process, he is very proud of his students, who work hard to make even the two bottles in an hour. “It looks easy, but the work is very, very difficult,” he assures us. When stuffed completely with plastic, these bottles become rock-hard – thus called ‘eco-bricks’. These bricks can be used to construct structures, and the students of Akshar Forum do so with great enthusiasm. The school is now working on building toilets out of these eco-bricks, to further a clean and sanitary environment. Akshar Forum’s prime objective has always been to further a no-plastic community, and the ‘eco-bricks’ initiative is an important element in this endeavor. Even if only one toilet is built out of the village’s plastic waste, it goes a long way in making sure that the Pamohi village is greener and cleaner.

Going ahead, Akshar Forum also aims to benefit the community with their recycling work. With enough eco-bricks, toilets can be constructed for the student households. For the time being, the students make sure to participate, learn and bring their own bit of innovation to the recycling program every day. From plastic wrappers to toilets – the students of Akshar Forum are on their way to change the world.

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