Making Clothing a Matter of Concern

By setting up collecting agencies around India, Goonj has effectively introduced "Vastradaan", its most recognized initiative that turns someone's waste into a resource for another.

Goonj also works closely with offices and urban schools, collecting stacks of one-sided used office paper, and assembling the pages into notebooks and sketchpads for schools in villages.

Goonj crucially promises dignity to their recipients, thus, if donated clothing appears too threadbare, they will find an alternative way of using it.

Goonj recently won the World Bank's Development Marketplace award for its "not just a piece of cloth" initiative. In this respect, Goonj transforms useless cloth into sanitary napkins to be used by needy women in villages and slums. The napkins provide an essential function in the biological process of menses, where so often, women in these areas contract infections and other life-threatening conditions by using dirty rags and paper. Goonj's creativity has enabled the recycling of almost anything.

The talented craftsmanship of Goonj employees allows them to turn old sarees into skipping rope, old cushion covers into balls, and old cloth and polythene into tents. Goonj even creates hand bags and mats by weaving feet and feet of cassette tape into colorful patterns of old fabric. Goonj, in its "school to school" initiative, also turns urban school wastage into valuable resources for rural education.

Goonj's target is to benefit remote rural schools by channelizing material like old books, uniforms, shoes and school bags. Goonj, concerns itself with the warmth of those in need, but in this process, has revolutionized recycling with commitment and creativity.