Join us to fight plastic waste in Landour
Empowering Communities: A Social Engineering Proof of Concept for Plastic Waste Segregation and Recycling in Landour, Mussoorie.
Mussoorie also known as the Queen of Hills is a hill station located at the lower Himalayas also known as the Shivaliks. The population of Mussoorie is approximately 31000 (Census 2011). The number of tourists who visited Mussoorie in 2021 was more than 12 lakh people. This means that the tourist population of Mussoorie swells by 40 times. 50% of this number visits the town between May and July of each year. Several streams and rivers start at the Shivalik range and are polluted at the initiation itself simply due to poor waste management practices.
Numerous studies conducted by Indian as well as international institutions clearly state that a healthy Himalayas are critical to a safe and healthy India.
Challenge The generation of waste caused by this swelling of population is humungous and the small town does not have the infrastructure to collect, clean and process this waste. To make matters worse, every tourist makes a trip to the famous Landour area for its scenic beauty and quaint market.
Landour is home to the old market and quaint deodar and oak forest. A daily door to door collection is done by the Cantonment Board but the Bazaar area is constantly littered with waste plastic and segregation at source is not enforced. This leads to truckloads of waste being collected and then sent to the landfill in Dehradun.
Proposed Solution (Proof of Concept)
SGIF proposes to conduct a three-pronged approach to address the challenge
Education and Public Awareness: SGIF proposes to carry out a baseline survey to understand the challenges faced by the civic society on segregating at source. This will be followed up by awareness sessions using various tools of public engagement and behavior change.
Supporting segregation at source: SGIF proposes to support the current door to door collection model by offering a different vehicle and person to collect the dry and recyclable waste.
Processing and Recycling Waste: SGIF proposes to use its existing recycling center that uses low value/non-recyclable waste plastic into paver blocks. The other high value waste items will be handed over to waste segregators to enhance their income
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Know more about the crisis of waste:
India faces a severe waste management crisis driven by rapid urbanization, population growth, and inadequate infrastructure. The country generates approximately 62 million tons of municipal solid waste annually, with only about 70-75% collected and 20-25% processed or treated. The remainder ends up in landfills or as litter, causing significant environmental and health issues.
Various research across cities and states points out that 70%-75% of the total waste generated today can be diverted away from the land fills. What compounds the problem is the exponential rise in use of plastics in the last two decades. The below figure shows a very strong correlation and causality between GDP and plastic consumption
Items/Year | Contribution % |
Biodegradable waste | 54% |
Recyclables (Metal, Glass, E-Waste, High Density Plastic, paper etc) | 20% |
Low Micron Plastic | 5% |
Inert materials | 20% |
Construction waste | 1% |
Correct segregation at source and handing of waste is an opportunity to not only protect the environment but also for income generation.
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