>InternetArchiveBot at 16:19, 14 November 2019

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Conserve is a [[non-governmental organization]] (NGO) launched in [[India]] in 1998 by husband and wife Shalabh and [[Anita Ahuja]].<ref name="Khaleej">{{cite web | url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=weekend&xfile=data/weekend/2008/February/weekend_February58.xml | title=Cash from trash | accessdate=2008-06-25 | work=Khaleej Times Online | author=Lal, Neeta | date=2008-02-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608152301/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=weekend&xfile=data%2Fweekend%2F2008%2FFebruary%2Fweekend_February58.xml | archive-date=2011-06-08 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Inception==

In 1998, when the Delhi government launched the [[Bhagidari System|Bhagidari]] campaign, asking its citizens to participate in civic initiatives, the [[conservation movement|conservationist]], Anita Ahuja and her IIT-alumna husband Shalabh rose to the challenge and launched '''Conserve'''. With a seed grant from the [[United States Agency for International Development]] (USAID), the duo began advocating waste management through seminars and workshops.<ref name="Khaleej"/>

Conserve started in the living room of some of Anita Ahuja's friends who were taking up issues like sewage and garbage. In synergy with the local [[Resident Welfare Association]]s (RWA), the Ahujas would also collect the waste of several colonies in a park and then segregate it. Wet kitchen waste would be converted into compost while dry refuse like polythene bags would be put aside.<ref name="Khaleej"/> That project didn't quite work but led her to the idea of doing something about plastic bags.<ref name="Forbes">{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/1126/109.html | title=Bag Lady | accessdate=2008-06-25 | author=Bahree, Megha | work=Forbes | date=2007-11-26}}</ref>

Over the next two years Ahuja experimented with recycling the bags. She tried weaving them together to create a tarpaulin-like covering for the shacks of slum dwellers. Another time she tried pasting pieces of the polyethylene onto canvas and cardboard. She saw that a thicker fabric could be used to make bric-a-brac like pen holders and file folders, and realized she'd finally found a successful recipe when her homemade products were popular at a fair at the U.S. embassy in [[New Delhi]]. She decided to venture into accessories.<ref name="Forbes"/>

Ahuja’s project has created employment for scores of underprivileged people and also become a solution for solving the problem of [[plastic pollution|plastic waste]].
The range has now been extended to creating footwear, cushions, jewellery, lamps, boxes and books.<ref name="Gulf">{{cite web | url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=136982&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16 | title=Even waste can be turned into beauty, says designer | accessdate=2008-06-25 | work=Gulf Times | date=2007-03-08}}</ref>

'''Recognition'''

In August 2018 Power Brands awarded Anita Ahuja the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar for her tireless efforts to protect our planet and all forms of life in it through her innovation – “handmade recycled plastic” – which will not only stall our hurtling march towards an “environmental holocaust”, but also make plastics - a high end fashion material.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.centralchronicle.com/daily-india-media-recognizes-13-indian-stalwarts-with-bharatiya-manavata-vikas-puraskar-2018.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509093532/https://www.centralchronicle.com/daily-india-media-recognizes-13-indian-stalwarts-with-bharatiya-manavata-vikas-puraskar-2018.html |archive-date=2019-05-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Environmental organisations based in India]]

Conserve NGO - Revision history

>InternetArchiveBot at 16:19, 14 November 2019