Now, sarees from water hyacinths

Known as a pollutant, water hyacinths will now be used to make sarees, an initiative that will empower women by providing them livelihood and clean waterbodies.

Thread made of fibre extracted from water hyacinths along with that of cotton used in West Bengal’s famous ‘Tant’ sarees will be utilised to make ‘fusion sarees’, said Gaurav Anand, director of ‘Swachhata Pukare’, one of the two NGOs that have joined hands for the project.

”We have targeted to (initially) produce at least 1000 sarees using the fibre to be extracted from water hyacinths in a similar way fibre is extracted from jute,” he said.

The product is likely to hit the market in June or July.

He said the organisation has employed around 200 women who have started collecting water hyacinths from 30-40 ponds lying unused in Bongaon and Machhlandapur areas of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

After taking the plants out of the water, they will be dried, then the thin fibre will be extracted and processed to convert it into fine thread.

”This thread will be used for manufacturing quality sarees” in those two places, said Anand.

For the technical know-how, ‘Swachhata Pukare’ has collaborated with Naturecraft, another NGO which is already making items such as electric lamps, murals, tile arts and mats from water hyacinths, he said.

Anand said, ”Initially, we are contributing voluntarily for the project and it is expected to cost over Rs 20 lakh.” Once full-fledged production commences, he expressed hope that the women engaged in the task would start earning Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month.

Removing water hyacinths from waterbodies would also clean them up and make them usable for people, Anand said.