State | Country: India
We all talk of climate change, of reducing pollution, and the need for clean air and water. We want to go green, be environmentally conscious; however, we struggle to understand what exactly needs to be done to achieve these goals.
There are simple ways to ensure sustainable living, as individuals, families, and societies, and Pune-based Kushaagra Innovations Foundation (KIF) has been working towards this goal.
In a country like India, as the population grows, so does the waste it generates – projected to touch 165 million tonnes by 2031. To tackle this challenge, the Indian government is adopting a strategy to convert waste to energy, drawing heightened interest from global players.
However, it’s equally important to recycle waste at the source – at the village, town, or city level. This helps conserve natural resources, save energy, reduce pollution from landfills and incineration, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and create economic benefits through job creation and lower production costs.
From traditional to modern ways of living
Indians are consummate recyclers. Traditionally, India had agencies/mediums within our society, such as the boharin who exchanged old clothes for vessels, or the cobbler on the street corner who repaired footwear for reuse, the grandmother who converted old sarees into quilts, and the raddiwala who collected old books and newspapers, and the millions of informal workers who collect, channelise, and recycle waste across the country.
But as society changes, so does the preference for buying new goods rather than recycling old ones. Thus, India is losing these agencies/mediums by reducing the need/demand for recycled goods.
These occupations do not make the person rich, but they can sustain themselves if the community around them continues to support them in various ways. They flourish based on the dignity and recognition given to them for their valuable role in the community. It’s important because this will help reduce the carbon footprint.
Still, with changed social values, these occupations are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. However, if we want an ecosystem that provides for recycling, we have to nurture such agencies/mediums.
On its own, such an occupation or business activity may not be financially feasible, let alone lucrative. It thus needs structured support of the community in terms of engaging with them as well as financially supporting them. KIF believes it is time to revive this culture of circularity, with modern tools, inclusive systems, and people at the center.
Let’s not forget – the traditional circular economy principles were an essential part of India’s social fabric long before the term was coined in the modern era.
Creating Agencies of Change
Creating and sustaining an ecosystem of waste management available locally to all becomes crucial for India’s next stage of growth. Imagine the difference a nation of 1.4 billion – one in every six people on Earth is Indian – can make to the planet by reverting and focusing on extracting resources from waste. KIF strongly believes in managing waste where it is generated because the transportation of waste is one of the major carbon guzzlers, which should be avoided at all costs. It strongly believes in managing waste as per circularity principles, which means working effectively to convert waste into a resource locally. This work can be done by informal waste collectors, who are mostly women in the locality. They, as defined by the ILO, may be “individuals or small and micro-enterprises” who need to be “recognized and formally charged with providing waste management services.” These women “eco warriors” are traditionally equipped to do the job, and all they need is a boost by creating ideal work and livelihood opportunities.
Women from economically weaker sections or low income families can also find activities in waste management as income generating. With appropriate training, technical support, and facilitation, they can convert waste into useful products and resources. Technologies are available to do this; all we require are willing hands to act as agencies of change in their local areas. KIF wants to nurture these “agencies of change and create an ecosystem” in small towns and the rapidly growing urban areas of India to prevent waste from going to the landfill.
Saksham – A Four-Step Approach
We have designed a four-step approach to empowering the women and wastepickers for becoming the agencies of change. Each step draws in dynamic women, opens up new opportunities, and helps transform them into lasting, sustainable ventures.
- Inform – Providing exposure trainings on entrepreneurship activities in waste
- Empower – In depth trainings for SHG women and engaging with waste pickers for formalization
- Upskill – Facilitation support for SHGs women and waste picker groups to initiate the business activities
- Engage – Establish pilots and handhold individuals for establishing and running the business models
Based in Pune, KIF has so far conducted training programs in over 300 towns in Maharashtra with 16,000 women to introduce them to livelihood opportunities in waste collection and management. These trainings took them through games and activities on thinking about waste differently, looking at it as a resource rather than a pollutant. It showed them how they can get involved, individually and as a group (micro-enterprise). It made them aware of the waste around them and the hidden opportunities. Urban Local Bodies (ULB) are always struggling to manage the waste generated in their towns. There are several challenges that they face: two being – lack of citizen participation and the non-availability of a skilled workforce to handle the waste. The support of the ULB can boost the possibilities for the women’s groups and waste pickers to enter into waste processing and support the ULB’s efforts. Government schemes and loans can provide financial assistance to kick-start the businesses.
KIF acts as an enabling platform for understanding the nuances of the partnerships between the ULB and SHG and or waste picker groups and facilitate the support aiming co-ownership of the both the stakeholders towards steady and sustainable implementation. This directly reflects on the convergence of the Swachh Bharat Mission and National Urban Livelihood Mission driving reduction in the waste going to the landfill while generating livelihood opportunties. KIF provides technical support in terms of market analysis, waste characterization and sourcing, equipment requirements, operating of machines, and managing logistics to the women. Handholding the women or waste picker groups to institutionalize the business and create a sustainable circular system is the KIF motto. The challenge faced by these businesses is selling the products made from waste. KIF identifies the channels through localized market research and facilitates the tie-ups for the forward linkages of the products recrafted from the waste.
Each initiative matters
These may seem like small initiatives and actions where the quantity of waste managed is minuscule compared to the amount generated. However, imagine a network of such entities across towns and cities and their cumulative impact. Every day, about 80% of our waste is recyclable, whether it is wet waste that can be converted to compost/biogas or dry waste such as hard plastic or cloth that can be reused. Creating these circular economy models serves three purposes: They save energy in making new products; reduce methane emissions; and help to store carbon in soils by composting. One of the basic principles of circularity is to produce and reuse locally; thus, creating such entities in each town will create a local recycling and processing ecosystem for waste. In today’s age although the products used by the citizens will come from far and wide, at least the waste generated in the towns can be converted into a resource locally and reused.
The impact foreseen
At COP26, India announced its ambition to become a net-zero emitter by 2070, an important milestone in the fight against climate change. Despite low per-capita emissions (1.8 tons CO2), India is the third-largest emitter globally, emitting a net 2.9 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) every year as of 2019. Waste is the fourth-largest contributor to overall emissions in our country. The waste sector contributes approximately 76 MtCO2e emissions and has become one of the fastest-growing segments in India’s GHG inventory.
According to a report, the sector grew by 226% from 1994 to 2020 due to population growth, rapid urbanisation, and increased industrial activities. In 2019, the sector contributed 2.34% to total greenhouse gas emissions, 22.69% of which came from solid waste disposal. As part of Mission LiFE, one of the goals is to mobilize 1 billion people globally to take individual and collective action for protecting and conserving the environment by 2028, transform 80% of Indian villages and urban bodies into green communities, and drive measurable climate impact. Diverting even 30kg of waste per day from landfill results in 1 Metric ton of waste per month and 12 MT tons of waste per year. That is equivalent to 2 Lakh tons of carbon dioxide emissions reduced per year. It may seem like a small drop; however, creating a network of such projects across the growing urban landscape in our country can have a cumulative impact.
A call to action: Partnering for change
These women-led or waste picker-led initiatives can be seen as business opportunities requiring investments or gap funding to make them sustainable. Market forces can further accelerate the business activities through the provision of proven technologies and markets for recycled goods. There is long-term potential to fund these activities through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) funds for plastics or Carbon credits as the policy and regulatory framework for it develops in India.
Creating sustainable communities requires awareness generation, willingness, and participation of citizens. To create this behavior change and sustain it, funding is required as a social development cause. The impact can be measured in terms of the livelihoods created, the dignity of livelihood provided to waste pickers, and support to the local Urban bodies in systemic waste solutions. On the larger canvas, the projects lead to air and water pollution reduction, the carbon emission reduction and driving measurable climate action.
Kushaagra Innovations Foundation’s work aligns with Mission LiFE and India’s climate commitments. More importantly, it shows how sustainability and social impact can go hand in hand. It is not just managing waste—it is building a movement of people-powered sustainability. With support, this movement can scale across India’s growing towns and cities, turning waste into opportunity and communities into champions of change. KIF’s approach bridges tradition and modernity: it revives India’s innate culture of recycling while embedding inclusive, technologically supported systems at the community level. By placing people—especially women and wastepickers—at the center of local waste management ecosystems, but also demonstrates that circularity is not just an environmental imperative but also a source of livelihood, empowerment, and social transformation.