Waste Warriors Society
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Mission Statement
To be a catalyst for practical and community led 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. To 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.
About This Cause
Waste Warriors is a registered society and not-for-profit founded in 2012 to improve waste management in eco-sensitive areas along the Himalayan Landscape. With a full-time team strength of 140+ Warriors, we have operations in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. We are currently working in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, Dharamshala, Bir Billing, and Kasauli with the support of Government, Foundations, CSR contributions, and individual donations. On our journey, we identified many problems in the waste sector, especially in the Himalayan regions. These include, but are not limited to: - Improper treatment of a highly sensitive ecosystem: Indian Himalayan Region, spanning over 1500 mi, is a highly sensitive ecosystem responsible for three river systems supplying water to over 1.3 billion people in Asia. The region has started experiencing waste-triggered landslides i.e., waste dumps burying homes and people under the pile of waste. - Waste burning causing respiratory diseases: A prevalent practice to dispose of waste in the region, waste burning has aggravated respiratory illness cases. Residue from burning contaminates the soil and groundwater and can easily enter the human food chain through crops and livestock. - Global warming and GHG emissions: A report by UNFCCC highlights that the emissions from solid waste driven by open dumps and landfills account for about 5-12% of total global GHG emissions and the methane emitted by the decomposing organic waste is responsible for around 20% of global methane. - Improper waste infrastructure to manage floating and resident population: Both mountain states welcome heavy tourist inflow and house a combined population of 16.9 million people. The waste infrastructure in the region lacks proper disposal, recycling, and segregation facilities to manage the heavy tourist inflow, commercial setups, and daily household waste. - Land and river pollution due to waste leeching: The region experiences significant waste leeching due to continuous waste dumping and burning practices. This waste reaches the river streams thus polluting the water bodies and when burnt, releasing toxins into the land and air. - Waste wildlife conflict: In India, it is a common sight to find cows roaming on the street and eating plastic bags or other packaging materials. A similar trend is being increasingly observed in the Himalayan regions which have been marked as conservation zones for snow leopards and tigers. The dumped waste attracts wildlife and ends up interfering with their food cycle. - Exploitation of waste workers in the informal sector – “With over 90% of waste openly dumped or burned in low-income countries, it is the poor and most vulnerable who are disproportionately affected” – The World Bank. Waste workers in India don’t have proper access to food, sanitation, and water. On top of it, hygienic work conditions are an extremely farfetched dream. In India, there is a significant lack of clear and comprehensive laws and policies to protect the rights of waste-pickers. Waste workers lack basic access to provisions like health insurance, protective equipment, segregation, and sorting, basic necessities like water, sanitation and facilities for clean living, and insurance. - Lack of convergence in solving the problem – Although waste management and exploitation of waste workers are big issues in India, the solutions provided by the local authorities and proposals made by interested parties are heavily misaligned. Solution - Proper waste infrastructure: A thoroughly built infrastructure that focuses on various aspects of the waste management cycle including proper disposal, segregation, waste storage, waste recovery facility, and recycling partnerships. - Behavioural change for a perspective shift: Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) interventions to change the mass perspective towards waste management in India at the grassroots level. - Responsible tourism: Appropriate measures to ensure tourists and travelers manage their own waste properly to travel sustainably. The responsibility goes beyond the travelers and relies heavily on private and public institutions and active citizens to drive change. - River and land cleanup: Organizing timely clean-ups with the help of youth and local citizens to reduce waste leeching into river bodies and land. - Stakeholder involvement: Involving government institutions, private corporate institutions, direct and indirect plastic manufacturers, and the general public to manage waste at source or clean-up is crucial to driving community-level changes. - Dignified employment for waste workers: Hygienic and healthy work conditions for waste workers with provision for gear, equipment, adequate working hours as well as nutritional needs. - Attention to the magnitude of the problem and inclusive solutions: Creating an inclusive solution that involves public, private, and individual stakeholders would aid in solving the problem systematically. Intervention by Waste Warriors - Driving transformational ground-level change – Waste Warriors organizes regular clean-up drives, and carries out intensive on-ground, door-to-door IEC activities to inculcate behavioral change on source segregation. Additionally, to drive passive behavioral changes, Waste Warriors installs wall murals and waste art near past or potential dumping sites to inhibit incorrect waste disposal. - Sensitizing the next generation through youth engagement – We partner with various government and private organizations like NCC (National Cadet Corps), schools, colleges, etc, and have created “Young Warriors Club”, “Safayi ki Pathshala” or Waste Education Program to mobilize the next generation towards waste management. - Private and public partnerships – Waste Warriors works with stakeholders across the public and private sectors to work on the waste problems in India. We have successfully moved from 0% to 85% waste segregation at source in a local ward in Dehradun with the help of our partners. - Positive biodiversity intervention – Waste Warriors has chapters in Corbett National Park, known for its tigers, and Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, one of India’s snow leopard conservation zones. We undertake waste management activities in these remote Himalayan regions to mitigate waste-wildlife conflict and inculcate behavioral change in local people. - Economically viable and decentralized SWM infrastructure – For remote locations, we have created local waste banks where dry waste is stored until it reaches the minimum required amount to be moved to our material recovery facilities, sustainably. Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) or our waste processing centers are fully operated and managed by the waste worker community. Our waste management model focuses on driving inclusive changes in the society. - Breaking stereotypes and empowering the marginalized through socio-economic inclusion of waste workers – Indian waste management ecosystem observes stereotypes and marginalization of particular castes. To break the stigma and overcome this behavior, we have attempted to dignify jobs held by frontline waste management workers by calling them “Safayi Saathi” or green workers, and “paryavaran sakhis” or friends of the environment. Additionally, we provide proper equipment and gear for our green workers for a safe, hygienic, and healthy work environment. - Waste management as a successful business enterprise – We seek to create WARM (Waste And Resource Management) models across our locations to create sustainable business enterprises by forming women-led self-help groups (SHGs). The business enterprises would help in generating long-term livelihoods for the local populace and empowers women. Waste is a part of our ecosystem, and it is high time that we look at it with a sense of ownership.