Instead of sending empty rice bags to the landfill, why not recycle them to become grocery bags made by Orang Asli women at Labu, Negeri Sembilan?
We, Asians, eat rice almost every day - so imagine the amount of plastic rice bags we’ve actually accumulated and dumped into the landfills.
Photo via Facebook (Carrol Lawrence)
This latest initiative by the Making Orang Asli Mother’s Independent (Moami) group works into turning the discarded items into functional bags.
Volunteer, Carrol Lawrence said that the bags are made by the Orang Asli women in Kampung Tekir in Labu, Negeri Sembilan, “It is to empower them. They have been affected by the Movement Control Order,” she told Malay Mail.
Prior to the implementation of the MCO, the women were making conference bags: “But due to the MCO, meetings had been suspended. Hence we came up with the idea to make grocery bags from rice bags so that the women can continue to make a livelihood.”
Customers are encouraged to send between three to five bags or about 1kg of empty plastic rice bags to the village. Once the bag is completed, it will be sent back to the customers, “The Orang Asli women charge between RM5 and RM10 to sew one bag based on the size and customisation.”
Jom pergi pasar... You may collect and post your own rice plastics to the village and the mums can sew it for you at a small upah of RM5-10 per bag (based on the size and customizations).
Posted by Carrol Lawrence on Sunday, June 28, 2020
As most of the women are housewives, they will need about a week before the ready bags can be sent back to the customers.
Moami’s focus is to improve the living conditions of the Orang Asli community through education, health, and nutrition.
They’re actually pretty cool bags!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
