Column | Rosalind Pereira’s quiet war against waste

Rosalind Pereira's Aamhi project tackles waste management in coastal Maharashtra, inspiring change through community and creativity.

People go into the sea to swim, Rosalind Pereira observes. “Then they discard their clothes on the beach and get into new clothes.” For the co-founder of Project Aamhi, a community waste management effort that enables people in 17 coastal Maharashtra villages to keep their neighbourhoods and beaches clean, this peculiar swimming habit sparked an idea.

In addition to 10 tonnes of plastic waste, Aamhi was collecting 800-900 kg of fabric every month from the beaches around Alibaug, a 20 minute speed boat ride from Mumbai’s Gateway of India for those who can afford it.

Now, apart from sending sacks of clothes to recycler Goonj, the fabric is upcycled into colourful, reinforced ‘Potli’ bags that are sold for ₹100 and distributed free to fishing communities.

As I write this, I’m looking at an azure bag with bronze sequinned embroidery and imagining the woman who abandoned her shiny wet kurta on the beach.

Pereira, 53, a graduate of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, finds ways to make big change in little things. If you have ever found yourself wondering what you could possibly do as an individual to improve the world around you, her story is inspirational.

In a world where the majority are insular and lazy, Pereira pushes for change with empathy and kindness. Maybe it was her “doer” mother who “always bustled around looking for commonsensical solutions” or her father who actively contributed to the church community, but Pereira learned early that you can’t wait around for someone else to act.

Whether it’s her co-founders at Aamhi or the supportive residents of the bungalows that line the coast or the corporate funders for her programmes or the woman panchayat head who buys into all her hard work, Pereira draws partners, co-founders and like-minded individuals like moths to her flame. Aamhi, in Marathi, fittingly means ‘we’.