Female entrepreneur turns ‘trash into treasure’ in India’s Assam

Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi’s initiative not only addresses climate crisis but also helps other women earn their livelihoods.

New Delhi, India – At a time when the world is grappling with staggering amounts of plastic waste and its environmental ramifications, a woman in India’s northeastern state of Assam has hit upon a novel idea to address the problem while also helping poor women earn a livelihood from it. Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi, 47, lives in the vicinity of Kaziranga National Park, a major tourist attraction in Assam and home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceros, besides thousands of elephants, tigers, panthers, bears and exotic bird species. In 1985, the national park was inscribed in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.