Our Projects 2017 - 2018
Our Story Our founder, Jodie Underhill, came to India in December 2008 as a tourist and then volunteered at the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala. The garbage situation was something that bothered her every day, so in April 2009 she decided to do something about it. Jodie’s first mass clean-up in McLeod Ganj, the home of HH the Dalai Lama, was attended by over 100 people and it was a realisation that she wasn’t the only person who wanted a cleaner India. Soon after, she formed Mountain Cleaners, a voluntary organisation, and started a weekly clean-up drive and waste collection from Triund, a remote but garbage-stricken mountain camp. Volunteers were recruited to segregate and sort the waste from shops and campsites. They also helped to clean the hiking trail and the piled up waste that had been thrown over the side of the mountain for years. Triund is now known as one of the cleanest hiking destinations in India.
Who We Are Founded in 2012, Waste Warriors is a not-for-profit organization and registered society committed to tackling India’s garbage problem. Through a combination of awareness-raising, community engagement, and local advocacy, and with an emphasis on civic pride, education, and developing sustainable waste management systems, we intend to clean up India: Direct Action: Clean-up drives; door-to-door waste collection with segregation and processing; installing and maintaining dustbins; improving the living and working standards for waste workers while integrating them into the formal SWM industry; waste management consultancy and transformation projects.
Education & Awareness Raising: Educating and raising awareness on the importance of responsible Solid Waste Management (SWM) in schools, institutions, and local communities.
Outreach: Partnering with other social enterprises and community groups for direct action and awareness initiatives; presentations and guest-speaking events; coordinating event waste management.
Research & Product Development: Creating sustainable and replicable SWM systems; developing strategies in line with the 5 R’s of SWM (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle); composting methods.
Public Policy Engagement: Liaisoning and advocating for sustainable public policy with support from concerned government authorities and community groups.
Our Vision ●
A clean and healthy India, which has systems in place to ensure that every citizen disposes their waste correctly and feels a sense of civic responsibility and national pride regarding cleanliness.
●
A healthier India with improved living standards and a better quality of life where waste workers are valued and respected for their contribution.
Our Mission ●
Be a catalyst for community-based decentralized Solid Waste Management (SWM) initiatives in rural, urban, and protected areas and to pioneer replicable models of resource management, innovative practices, research and education in the field of solid waste management.
●
Improve working conditions for waste workers and take positive steps towards integrating the unorganized waste sector into the formal Solid Waste Management (SWM) industry whilst reducing the stigma attached to waste.
Our Project Locations Waste Warriors Dehradun Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Waste Warriors Dharamsala Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh
Waste Warriors Corbett Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand
Waste Warriors Dehradun
About The Project Being the head office of Waste Warriors, the team here is constantly brainstorming to innovate and be a role model to develop and execute sustainable waste management systems. Dehradun, being a dense urban city, comes with varying mindsets that bring its own challenges. With this in mind, the Dehradun team focuses on: 1.
Helping bulk generators manage their waste, resulting in better environmental impact.
2.
Transforming public spaces.
3.
School awareness programs targeting 90 schools in Dehradun.
4.
Outreach/partnership with government bodies and citizen’s groups for policy impact.
5.
Research and Product development in line with 4Rs, with an idea from 'waste as a problem' to 'waste as a resource' in the context of circular economy.
2017-2018 has been an exciting year for Dehradun with a restructured team to carry on the vision of our founders. We collaborated with Nagar Nigam Dehradun (NND) to identify and formalize rag-pickers for ID distribution, working with NND on 11 composting enclosures all over the city, and coordinating with District Commissioner for actionable plans to clean up Jakhan Forest. With a target of covering 5000 households, we have already covered 4 areas, averaging 100 houses each. With the financial support of our donors, this year we have collected and processed 257 tons of waste. We have also started to collect e-waste for our PRO partner for proper collection and processing. We ended the financial year with successful zero-waste event management of Rajpur Nature Fest, Bajaj Institute, SBI Marathons, and Bakri Swayamwar in Goat village, averaging around 3000 footfall each.
Waste Warriors Dehradun
Dehradun in 2017-2018 Clean-up Drives • Clean-ups drives organized: 20 • Indian and foreign volunteers: 48 • Weight of waste collected: 1392 kg Waste Collection • Establishments serviced daily: 53 • Green Workers employed: 12 • Estd waste processed daily: 1118 kg • Waste collected: 257 metric tons • Recyclables: 79 metric tons • Non-recyclables: 123 metric tons • Garden Waste: 27 metric tons • E-Waste collected: 233 kg • Composting units installed: 32
Event Management (approximate footfall) • Bakri Swayamvar: 3000 • SBI Marathon Chandigarh: 3000 • SBI Marathon Delhi: ongoing - 3000 • Bajaj Institute: 2000 • Rajpur Nature Fest: 3000
Public Awareness Initiatives • Public dustbins installed: 55 • Public anti-littering signs installed: 5 • Art installations and murals painted: 10 • Door-to-door awareness-raising (households): 12 • Door-to-door awareness-raising (businesses): 2 • Trainings on SWM systems and composting: 9 • Participants in SWM training sessions: 440 Awareness-raising in Schools • Children’s days activities conducted: 9 • Schools engaged for awareness-raising: 23 • Schools properly managing their solid waste: 12 • Waste collected from schools: 54 metric tons • Plastic Bottle drives: 5 • E-Waste drive: 1
Waste Warriors Dharamsala
About The Project Dharamsala is where our organization’s vision and spirit was born. Three of this city’s 17 municipal wards are in the bustling hills of Upper Dharamsala: Bhagsunag, McLeod Ganj, and Forsyth Ganj. We operate in Bhagsunag ward, servicing Bhagsunag town and waterfall, Dharamkot and Heini communities, Gallu check post and waterfall, and Forest Dept. land on trails and the Triund campsite. In April 2017, with the financial support of HT Parekh Foundation, this project was given a new lease of life. Our small team takes on the enormous task of manually managing hundreds of tons of waste produced annually by hundreds of thousands of tourists and hundreds of residents and businesses. Our project provides a formal livelihood to eight Green Workers, who were informal migrant ragpickers. In Bhagsunag, inadequate ward-level municipal waste disposal services forced local residents and businesses to dump or burn their waste, usually in the nearest naala or ravine. Some people carried their waste to municipal bins, but the hilly terrain and sparse bin placement made that impractical. Through our daily door-to-door waste collection service, clean-up drives, dustbin installations, art projects, public awareness initiatives, and local advocacy work, our combined effort mitigates the hazardous effects of waste pollution on mountain air, water, and soil, and educates locals, businesses, and tourists.
Waste Warriors Dharamsala
Dharamsala in 2017-2018
Door-to-Door Waste Collection • Establishments serviced daily: 242 • Green Workers employed: 8 • Waste collected: 180 metric tons • Segregated recyclables: 63 metric tons • Non-recyclables disposed: 117 metric tons • Average waste collected daily: 0.5 TPD
Awareness Initiatives • Public dustbins installed: 45 • Public anti-littering signs installed: 11 • Art installations and murals painted: 6 • Tourist awareness posters in taxis: 200 • School upcycling sessions conducted: 4
Clean-up Drives • Clean-ups drives organized: 99 • Indian and foreign volunteers: 493 • Waste sacks used for litter: 871 • Voluntary hours spent: 418
Waste Warriors Corbett
About This Project This project around Uttarakhand’s Corbett Tiger Reserve was initiated in 2013 by Minakshi Pandey, a resident of the area, to introduce a Solid Waste Management system in an region stretching over 150 villages and 100 kms in and around the Corbett Landscape, where no system existed before the intervention. The project has since spread to 47 rural locations in Panchayat and Forest areas, including 37 villages with 3000 homes and shops, 70 schools with over 9000 children, entry gates for Corbett Tiger Reserve, 5 temple complexes, 6 forest rest house complexes, an Ayurvedic factory area, 2 PWD bungalows, an Eco Tourism Centre and a Forest office compound. They focus on raising community awareness, providing sustainable rural SWM systems, improving living standards, and providing livelihood opportunities. Corbett Project has been supported by Mr. Anand Mahindra, Mr. Rasesh Vissanji, Mahindra Holiday Resorts Pvt Ltd, SOS Organics, Thapar Public Charitable Trust, Gemalto,
Clover
Organics,
Tesna
Tech,
Uttarakhand
Forest
Department,
Uttarakhand Environment Protection & Pollution Control Board, Royal Expeditions, Avisfera Adventures, Kasturi Kabiraj, Nilanjan Coomar, friends, family, well-wishers, the dedicated work of the entire Waste Warriors Society’s team and the regular flow of volunteers from far and near who have been constant pillars of support.
Waste Warriors Corbett
Corbett in 2017-2018 Clean-up Drives • Clean-up drives conducted: 79 • Participants in the clean-ups: 2171 • Recyclable waste collected: 529 kg • Non-recyclable waste collected: 348 kg
Providing Sustainable Rural SWM systems • Locations for waste management: 47 • Dry waste collected: 1910 kg • Wet waste collected and composted: 735 kg • Non-recyclables sent to landfill: 2833 kg • Waste stores rented: 7 • Composting units created: 8
Improving Living Standards • School dustbins maintained: 226 • School water filters maintained: 33
Introducing Livelihood Options • Persons hired by the project: 2 • Persons employed by the project 8-10
School Awareness-Raising • Children’s days activities conducted: 90 • Schools engaged for awareness-raising: 73 • School that properly manage their solid waste: 64 • Dry waste collected from schools: 2436 kg • Participants covered during awareness: 2369 • Awareness sessions conducted: 40
Community Awareness-Raising • Door-to-door awareness for households: 2735 • Door-to-door awareness for businesses: 354 • Trainings on SWM systems and composting: 72 • Participants in the training sessions: 339 • Awareness signboards installed: 44
Our Impact
Waste Warriors milestones since 2012 Landfill Area Saved Projects
Dehradun
Dharamsala
Corbett
Recyclables Collected
261 tons
384 tons
88 tons
Total Area
731,567 ft2
1,074,407 ft2
246,567 ft2
Greenhouse Gases Saved Projects
Dehradun
Dharamsala
Corbett
Total Waste
1100 tons
1416 tons
352 tons
CO2 emissions
76 tons
98 tons
24 tons
CH4 emissions
30 tons
39 tons
10 tons
Garden Waste Composted Projects
Dehradun
Total Waste
32 tons
CO2 & CH4 emissions
3.1 tons
Manure produced
22.3 tons
Trees Saved Projects
Dehradun
Dharamsala
Corbett
Recyclables Collected
261 tons
354 tons
88 tons
Trees
667
903
225
Our Funders
Our Supporters
Support Our Work
Volunteer/Internship Volunteering is a great way to meet new people,
gain
new
skills,
and
give
something back to society. Volunteering opportunities are available for at all our project locations so please get in touch to find out more. We can also help you to initiate clean-up drives and plan community initiatives wherever you are in India. We also offer internship programs for students, from India and abroad.
Make A Donation Please consider making a donation to support our work. Account Name
Waste Warriors Society Account Number
33742176465 Bank Name
State Bank of India (SBI) IFSC code
SBIN0060432 Branch
New Cantt. Road, Dehradun All donations to Waste Warriors are 50% tax exempt as we have a Section 80G certificate. Letter No.80G/2014-15/1144 dated 29/05/2014.
info@wastewarriors.org
Waste Warriors Society 71A, New No. 386, Balaji House Lane
@wastewarriors0
Dilaram Chowk, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001
www.wastewariors.org +91 78952 67144
Waste Warriors is registered under the Indian Societies Act 1860 - Number 243/2012-2013 Registered Address: 24 Pritam Road, Dalanwala, Dehradun, 248001