Waste Management

Manjunath not only works in the hotel but also educates them about food waste management, recycling and much more. Here's all you need to know about this young changemaker and how you can help him save our planet.

Several women from an apartment complex in Bangalore came together and enabled the entire community to follow an effective waste management model. Here's how they made it possible.

Using technology and people management skills, read how Mansoor is making waste collection a well organized profession. Thanks to his efforts, Bengaluru now sees ragpickers with ID cards, fresh uniforms and better incomes.

With the rising number of buildings and the decreasing open space, terrace gardening is emerging as a great option to have the best of both worlds. Want to grow a terrace garden at your home? Our reader and contributor Vikram Kapoor shares with us his guide on how to grow wonderful veggies and fruits yourself.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun have invented a technology that can convert plastic waste into high-grade petrol, diesel or aromatics. What's more, this new fuel will cost Rs.30 to Rs.40 per litre! Read along to know more about the technology that can revolutionize the fuel we use forever!

Meet the women who strongly believe that there is a spirit of ownership among villagers that can be tapped into by someone within their own community. And to honour this belief, they walk for miles each day to inform and educate people about sanitation and water issues. These are the wonderful Water and Sanitation Promoters of rural Tamil Nadu.

You will truly see how one man's trash is another man's (or woman's) meal in this essay which ventures into the Mumbai slums and takes a look into the lives of the "entrepreneurs" who are trying to eke out a living from plastic discards. Meet the fiesty Lakshmi and learn how she responds when her daughter is teased with "Teri maa kachre wali hai"!

Waste Warrior Jodie Underhill talks about going out and gathering support from local people, children, celebrities and everybody you meet, because you believe strongly in your cause in this TEDx talk. She shows it really is possible to clean up India!

It can be seen from the examples below that when residents and stakeholders in a community come together to solve an issue, the results are not only positive, but also long-lasting. Here we learn of ordinary citizens and local NGOs who inspired people in their areas to keep their surroundings clean and free of diseases.

Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a union of scrap collectors started by Dr Baba Adhav in 1993, has now become a force much larger than just a collection of waste pickers, mostly women. It serves as a platform for voicing grievances and as a medium for pushing developmental programmes to this highly marginalised segment of the society. From financial support, education and insurance facilities to intangibles like dignity of labour and quality of life, read how a collective can change lives.