D O N E Waste Warriors Dharamshala Himachal Pradesh Project Report April 2019 - March 2020 Supported By: D O Table of Contents N E About Waste Warriors 1 Working Towards The UN SDGs 1 Project Overview 2 Our Objectives & Strategies 3 Our Team Green Workers 4 Office Staff 5 Our Achievements 6 Impact Data 7 Conferences, Exhibitions, and Workshops 8 School & Community Engagement 9 Art for Awareness 10 Event Waste Management 11 Awards and Accolades 12 Local News and Media 13 Our Dharamshala Partners 13 Testimonials 14 New Developments 16 Our Challenges 17 Measures Against COVID-19 17 Our Way Forward 18 Thank You To HT Parekh Foundation 19 About Waste Warriors About Waste Warriors Waste Warriors is a solid waste management NGO that was founded in 2012. We are a registered D society that works through a combination of direct action initiatives, awareness-raising and O community engagement programs, local advocacy, and long-term collaborative partnership with various government bodies. N Our Mission E Our mission is to develop sustainable solid waste management systems by being a catalyst for community-based decentralized initiatives in rural, urban, and protected areas, and to pioneer replicable models of waste management, innovative practices in awareness and education, and to formalize and improve the informal livelihoods and stigmatized conditions of waste workers. Working Towards The UN SDGs Good Health and Well-being: We promote waste segregation at source and divert organic waste through animal feeding and composting. Also, to curb and manage the burning of waste, we have strategically installed 10 dry leaf composting units, of which, 4 have been installed in schools. Quality Education: To help spread awareness and to make it easier for the younger generation to become a part of the solution, our education program, Swachhta Ki Pathshala teaches students and staff members on the importance of waste management. Clean Water and Sanitation: Our efforts, especially our clean-ups at Bhagsu waterfall, discourage people from dumping waste in streams and other drinking water sources for the area, including Bhagsu, McLeod Ganj, and further downhill. Sustainable Cities and Communities: We believe SDG 11 will be realised by bringing behavioural change to community members through awareness raising activities and by developing effective SWM systems. Responsible Consumption & Production: SDG 12 is the core of our adult awareness programs and we are regularly and tirelessly urging residents and businesses to manage their waste better by practicing the 5 R’s of SWM: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot (composting). Climate Action: Our efforts to prevent mixing of recyclable and organic waste, to promote composting of food/horticultural waste, and to prevent burning of any kind of waste directly reduces harmful greenhouse gases generated. Partnerships for the Goals: Lastly, we believe in building strong and long-term partnerships between local authorities and marginalized and underserved communities. The efforts under SDG 17 are a key component of our work. 1 Project Overview D O N E Location Background The problem of waste has become a huge challenge in Dharamshala. Here, household and commercial waste get collected in a mixed form and is then dumped at the local municipal dump-site. The waste dumped here is not sorted or processed. According to the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation (DMC), the local dump-site contains approximately 50,000 metric tons of legacy waste which in turn affects the surrounding environment. This mountain of waste only gets worse during the monsoons and winters. Waste Management Context & Issues In 2016, Dharamshala Municipal Council was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation. The total area of the DMC is 27.60 sq. km. and is divided into 17 wards. As per the 2011 census, Dharamshala has a total population of 53,543 and DMC stands as the main governing body for the management of solid waste in the city. The annual report (2018-2019) of Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board states an estimate of 25 metric tons of municipal solid waste is generated per day, out of which 22 metric tons is collected. None of the reports mention how much waste is sorted after it is collected. The Partnership Between Waste Warriors & HT Parekh Foundation Since 2017, HT Parekh Foundation has supported us in building and providing robust solid waste management services, and through their support our teams have been able to organize and conduct public awareness initiatives and community engagement programs in Bhagsunag ward of Dharamshala. With their ongoing support we have significantly grown and helped change the way communities and government stakeholders look at and deal with solid waste. + 2 Our Objectives D 1. To raise awareness on the importance of proper solid waste management and the hazards of littering, dumping, and burning of mixed waste. O 2. To expand our operating base and to promote skill training and livelihood development among our SWM field staff, our Green Workers, through value-added recyclable waste N processing. 3. To reduce the amount of mixed waste going to the municipal dumping ground by encouraging segregation at source from all participating community members and by E providing daily and affordable door-to-door dry waste collection services. 4. To minimize and prevent littered waste on roads, nallahs, trails, waterfalls, and tourist hotspots. 5. To transform and beautify public spaces used by local communities and heavy tourist influx alike. 6. To train school teachers and administrators to use our educational toolkits and improve solid waste management in their schools. 7. To partner with local authorities to effectively implement our initiatives, in line with SWM Rules 2016. Our Strategies 1. Community Engagement & Awareness-Raising a. To organize door-to-door awareness-raising initiatives with households, food and hospitality businesses, and the floating tourist population. b. To encourage people to segregate, use waste bins, stop littering and burning, and recycle. c. To coordinate community campaigns, learning workshops, training sessions, and public events with community influencers, active citizen groups, other CSOs, and business associations. 2. Direct Action & Transformation Initiatives a. To plan, supervise, and monitor daily door-to-door dry waste collection services executed by our Green Workers. b. To conduct weekly volunteer-driven clean-up drives at the Triund campsite, Bhagsu Waterfall, and in neglected and heavily-littered community areas. c. To coordinate, design, and install high-visibility murals, art structures, signboards, and public-use community-sponsored waste bins 3. Enterprise Development & Expansion a. To boost our project implementation efforts by being in closer proximity to a wide range of state and municipal departments in lower Dharamshala, including the Municipal Corporation, Smart City office, and Forest/Tourism/Education/Public Works Departments. b. To expand our operations into a new ward in lower Dharamshala through dry waste collection and by empowering existing waste pickers. 4. School Education Program a. To organize and conduct effective teacher training programs, implement school activities like clean-up drives, implement creative upcycling sessions, and organize plastic bottle & e-waste drives. b. To teach students the importance of sustainable SWM and to encourage them to reduce their plastic consumption and segregate their waste correctly. 5. Government Partnerships & Implementation Support a. To partner, liaise and collaborate with the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation (DMC), HP Forest Dept and HP Tourism Dept that will help us to develop and implement joint campaigns and initiatives. 3 Our Team - Green Workers D O N E Sonu Gond Md. Giyasuddin Lokman SK Vijay Kumar Deepak Kumar Shiv Balak Rajesh Kumar Laddu Kumar Raj Kumar Our Green Workers cover 314 establishments in Bhagsu, Dharamkot, Gallu, Heini, etc. They carry approximately 80 kilograms of waste per round on their backs through these hilly terrains, which are inaccessible to DMC waste collection vehicles. Om Prakash In addition to the door-to-door collection services, our Green Workers monitor and maintain 115 Waste Warriors public-use dustbins from Upper Bhagsu to McLeod Ganj. All these Green Workers manually segregate waste into 6 different categories, which are further sold to a local scrap dealer, Sitaram, who we have known and have been working with for many years. 4 Our Team - Office Staff D O N E Etosha Chatterjee Shomita Bhattacharya Yogesh Shukla Manager Project Manager Manager Outreach & Partnerships Operations Mitali Rawat Nidhi Sharma Vinay Kumar Associate Manager Education Assistant Associate Manager Outreach & Partnerships Operations Our New Team! The year began with 3 people in the Dharamshala office. Most of the current staff joined Arpit Dhiman Vikas Kapoor in September, 2019 and Associate Project Assistant rapidly started to build and Outreach & Partnerships rejuvenate many partnerships and relationships with stakeholders and civil society groups. We’re proud to share that we now have four teammates from Himachal on our team: Vicky, one of our longest serving members from Uparli Barol, Vinay from Gamru, Arpit from Gaggal, and Nidhi from Dhami near Shimla. 5 Our Achievements D Target Achieved Community Engagement and Awareness Raising O IEC placards (part of Swachh Yatra program) distributed 600 1127 N Dry waste segregation & collection bags distributed 1000 529 Businesses enrolled in