Incidents abound where random acts of thoughtfulness trigger a chain reaction no one saw coming. Samaira Garg and her initiative Made@gain charts a similar path.
About two years ago, 16-year-old Samaira, noticed unused sheets in most of her notebooks at the end of the school year and decided to repurpose them. “There were enough sheets to create a few notebooks and I thought these could be helpful for students who couldn’t afford stationery,” says Samaira, a 11th grade student at The International School Bangalore,who was aided in her efforts by friends at school and her apartment complex.
“We were taping them together and could only make around 20 notebooks with 60 to 100 pages. I wanted to do something more because I knew it could make an impact.”
Besides, despite her good intentions, she knew her efforts looked quite amateur. She says, “I wanted to give students something new, something which did not look put together. I wondered if an industrial processor could use these pages to create brand new notebooks.”
She approached a common connection, Ashutosh Ananth, co-founder of Rescript, a Bengaluru-based company working with reprocessed paper to manufacture new stationery. “Samaira wanted to understand the recycling process; our firm uses pre- and post-consumer waste. She wanted to know if proper notebooks could be made from recycled paper.”
Her proposal was, if Rescript could turn that material into brand new notebooks, she would distribute them to children in need. “I thought it feasible and so, we put together a plan,” says Ashutosh.
Books collected for Made@gain
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
He continues, “Samaira mentioned starting a drive to source paper and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how much would come of it, but I wanted to be supportive of her efforts.”
The first drive generated 2,000 kilograms of paper which was converted into 1,000 notebooks, and Made@gain came into being in February 2025.
Till date, Made@gain has collected over 20,000 kilograms of used stationery and created around 12,000 notebooks. Around 8,000 of these books have been distributed to students across 10 schools and children from the Soliga tribal community at BR Hills, as well as to children of migrant construction workers.
One of the schools Samaira approached was National Public School-East (NPS-East). Principal Meenu Bhattacharya remembers the well-articulated email through which Samaira initially pitched her idea. “Not only did I love the name Made@gain, but I was also pleased with the child’s clarity of thought. This was not just another well-intentioned Idea, but an action plan which was doable.”
“As a school, we generate a lot of paper waste, especially at the end of the academic year, but unless one is approached with a workable plan for recycling, it tends to get discarded.”
Meenu introduced Made@gain at NPS-East through the school’s Social Empowerment through Work Education and Action program. The high school students pitched it to those in junior classes and as a school, they contributed a sizeable amount of paper to made@gain.
Samaira Garg and Made@gain notebooks
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“Samaira is studying economics and when she initially pitched the idea of Made@gain she mentioned the idea executed circular thinking. It was refreshing to see someone so young put into practise what they have learnt,” says Meenu.
Apart from circular thinking, the initiative has a positive effect on the environment in multiple ways. Ashotosh says, “Approximately, 46,200 litres of water have been saved in the creation of made@gain notebooks, 1,368 kilograms of CO2 emissions were prevented from being released into the air, and of course, zero trees were cut. Samaira has single-handedly met four of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations.”
And the ripple effect continues. “We have been approached by other students and schools wanting to implement the same initiative in their schools. They learn about sustainability and being eco-friendly in class so it is great to see them implement it,” he says.
Meenu says the drive at NPS-East has now included an orientation for parents as well, and efforts are on to get other branches of the school on board. As of date, Made@gain’s collection network now covers five schools, 10 corporates, six communities and about 800 individual donors.
Paper is often disposed off in dustbins, and Ashutosh says it often ends up in landfills despite efforts to segregate waste. “Instead, if paper can be handed to a raddiwala or people like Samaira it will be sourced by bigger brands and other aggregators which work with paper, and it is recycled. Collect paper and hand it over responsibly if you want to make a positive impact on the planet.”
Made@gain has also formulated an ambassador programme where students lead collection drives in their schools, getting a chance to put concepts such as sustainability, leadership and responsible consumption, into practical use. The initiative is slowly gaining ground at apartments and corporate offices.
Samaira Garg (centre) with staff and students of a beneficiary school
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Made@gain also allows for personalising at ₹18 per notebook and this includes the cover design, contributor branding and the Thinking Circular concept on the back cover.
Despite the impact Made@gain has had, Samaira remains quite reticent about her efforts. “Partnering with additional schools brings more eco-friendliness to the world.”
Whenever she has the chance, Samaira visits schools to distribute these notebooks or pitch the idea of Made@gain. Despite it being well into the academic year, she says, “I am sure like me, many students would be happy to get new notebooks in the middle of school term too, as notebooks are always going to be in demand.”
“Besides, when I went to the two schools for children from the Soliga tribal community in BR Hills, I realised what most of us take for granted, as a simple new notebook, means far more to those children who have only ever known hand-me-downs.”
“And though we went there to distribute books, it turned into an opportunity to discuss Thinking Circular and it was heartening to get a positive response and interact with them.”
For more details log on to www.madeagain.in
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