The world produces about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. A lot of this waste, such as multi-layered plastic packaging and cigarette butts, is hard to recycle. Instead, it fills up landfills and contaminates the environment. We travel to the Indian city of Pune where eco-social company Recharkha upcycles plastic packaging waste into contemporary products like tote bags, lampshades and table mats. It relies on village women’s handicraft using traditional spinning wheels or charkhas, simultaneously helping tackle rural unemployment. We also head to another Indian city, Noida, where an organisation works with local women to safely turn millions of cigarette butts into clean fluffy material to be used in stuffed toys - among other products. People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider. Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Chhavi Sachdev Sound mix: Andrew Mills/Ardila Syakriah Editor: Jon Bithrey (Image: Women who work at the Recharka project, Recharka)
People fixing.
People fixing the world.
If there's one place where you're guaranteed to hear about solutions, it's people fixing the world.
From the BBC World Service, I'm Mayra Anubi, and every week I turn your focus to creative things people are doing to make our world a better place.
Now, today, we'll be talking about a monster that has taken over our planet.
Plastic.
But you know me, I'm all about solutions.
So today we're going to India to hear how everything from plastic packaging, wrappers, and even cigarette butts are being transformed into something new.
Plastic waste is everywhere.
Just so we understand the scale of this, According to the UN globally, 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic waste end up in our oceans and lakes every day.
2000.
And this is bad because plastic can take up to a thousand years to break down.
So essentially, this material is.
Is just building up on our planet, choking up marine life and leaking harmful chemicals into our soils.
Now, we've looked at several ways to try and tackle this problem on the program before, but when you have a problem that's this big, you can never have enough solutions.
So today we're going to one of the countries that produces the most plastic waste in the world.
India.
Our reporter Chavi Sachdev is taking us to her city to find out more about projects that are turning this trash into treasure.
I'm standing by the seafront in a pretty ritzy part of my city, Mumbai.
The sidewalk is crowded with joggers, people walking their dogs, skateboarders.