HTW organises creative design workshop for rag pickers

Leading Indian can maker Hindustan Tin Works (HTW) recently organised a creative design workshop for rag pickers at Bhopura as part of the annual environmental campaign Canvironment Week.

The workshop, which took place near the Ghazipur landfills, was organised in association with Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group (NGO).

At the workshop Dr Vivek Prasad, designer and art consultant ­at Aranya Earth Craft, created sculptures out of metal scraps. The workshop was successful and saw about 40 female and 10 male participants take part. All of them spared two hours from their normal daily routine and learnt the basics of creating some beautiful artifacts.

Atit Bhatia, senior vice president of Hindustan Tin Works was present at the final session of the workshop. He said: “The underlying theme of Canvironment Week is to uplift the lives of rag pickers, who are identified as the cog in the recycling wheel. Through this workshop we wanted to provide them with skill based training on creating products from metal and tin scrap. This, we believe, will enable them to garner relevant skills and know-how to create newer products and use them to financially support themselves and their families.”

Canvironment Week is an environmental campaign that promotes the sustainability of metal packaging.