Building Zero Waste

Villages in the
Himalayan Region
Littering
State of our rivers

Near Corbett Tiger Reserve,

Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Ramnagar Uttarakhand
Open Burning

A shop in Purola, Uttarkashi Open burning of waste in Purola

Mismanaged Waste is Reaching a Tipping Point

Tourism related activities generate 1 Truck of waste every 5 minutes

in our Himalayan Region.
 Waste,
Wildlife,
&
Himalayas

30,000
animal
species
Above: Leopard chewing on polythene near Corbett. Above: Deer chewing on plastic packet.
Below: Elephant in a plastic-filled swamp. Below: Bird dead due to ingestion of plastic caps and
Shared by Parag Madhukar Dhakate 170+ cigarette lighters
Conservator of Forests (western circle) protected
areas

Plastic
being
found
every
where.
 Impact on Human Health

Exposure to burning of waste can lead to 20%

increase in risks of cancer. UK and HP are in
the top three states for diagnosed cancer.

Waste dumping disproportionately affects

marginalised communities & poor
neighbourhoods.

Microplastics found in water & salt can lead to

disrupted digestion & immune response.
 Social Stigma Changing Consumer Patterns
& Informal Livelihoods in Rural Areas

Root
Causes
Heavy Influx of Tourism
Lack of Govt & Single-Use Products
Convergence &
Enforcement

Difficult terrain,
Inaccessible by road
 Our Vision for Zero Waste Villages

Waste Reduction
1
Promote waste reduction policies while working
with locals and tourists.

Promoting Responsible
Tourism
2

Inspire tourists to leave every place better..

Livelihoods for rural women
and youth
3
Opportunity to form SHGs locally who can make
a living from user fee collection, sale of waste
and upcycling of waste.
Accessible waste management
services
4
Ensuring all villages have access to waste
collection services, infrastructure for
processing and linkage with recyclers.
 What We Do

Act as a
CATALYST
Change Build Waste Strengthen Empower
Behaviors Infrastructure Institutions Local women
 J IM
CO
RBE
T TN
A TI
ON
AL
PA R
K

Where: Govind Wildlife

Sanctuary,
2500 MT of Waste Uttarkashi
Generated Annually
Steps To Build Zero Waste Villages
Community Onboarding Women & Livelihoods
✓ Door-to-door awareness ✓ Local village women are
for homes and shops for on-board and activated as
waste segregation. an SHG.
✓ Waste storage area ✓ SHG women are trained
allocated to Waste on segregated dry waste
Warriors by village collection and operations.
leaders. ✓ Collection of monthly
✓ Agree to pay user fees. user-fees per household.
✓ SHGs trained on making
upcycled products for
tourist market.
Waste Infrastructure
✓ Waste centres allocated
by village admin for SHG
women to operate.
✓ SHG women bring
collected dry waste to
their designated waste
centres.
✓ Stored recyclables sold to
local scrap dealers for
aggregation/processing.
Waste Value Chain

Source Segregation Waste Banks: Storage & Sorting Value Addition & Processing
Government Engagement
Panchayati Raj Department

Signed a 5-year MoU to establish rural SWM systems in Uttarakhand state.

Uttarakhand Forest Department

Committed to support operating expenses through Eco-Development Committees.

Swachh Bharat Mission, Gramin

Rs. 16 lakhs available for construction of one Material Recovery Facility per block.

Uttarakhand Tourism Department

Charge tourists for entry / development fees, promote responsible and experiential tourism.

District Magistrate

Access to land, capital expenses and overall support

 3-Year Goals

Change Behaviors of Operate in all Livelihoods for Process

30,000 43 120+ 250

people on waste villages around local villagers, MT of waste from
segregation, user fees & Govind Sanctuary especially women Himalayan landscape
anti-littering
Long-Term Sustainability Plan

After government convergence and engagement in operations, program is

handed over to Gram Pradhans and Eco-Development Committees.

Trained SHGs become self-sufficient by maximizing user-fees, recyclables sales,

and sale of upcycled products.

Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Netwar is operational and improves processing

efficiency and reduces reverse logistics costs.

Linkage with EPR and Plastic Credits for revenue generation from low-grade non-
recyclable waste.
 Why Waste Warriors

• Passionate & Experienced Team of 100+

• Decade-Long Direct Action Experience
• Generated Stakeholder Demand
• Proactively Transparent Brand
 Our Leadership Team

Vishal Kumar Aman Grover Naveen Kr. Sadana Sakshi Singh Chirag Mahajan
Chief Executive Officer Strategy & Implementation Outreach & Advocacy Talent & Culture Partnerships & Comms.

Our Project Leads

Ankita Chamola Tanu Goel Shomita Bhattacharya Puspendu Mandal Gagandeep Singh Rajkumar V.
Tetra Pak EPR lead Model Programs lead Project Manager Project Manager Project Manager Project Manager
Dehradun Dehradun Dharamshala Corbett Rishikesh Uttarkashi
Our Supporters & Partners Memberships

Income Growth
Our Champion Warrior - Leela Devi
Thank You For Your Support!

Waste Warriors Society

Indian Societies Act

12A, 80G, FCRA

Contact:
Vishal Kumar, CEO
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
vishal@wastewarriors.org
 Our Impact in 2020-21

Behavioral Change

27,000+ people
Trained door-to-door, in workshops,
& in online sessions.

Waste Management

760+ MT
of solid waste collected & processed
at 10 dry waste facilities.

Worker Upliftment

390+ waste workers

engaged, onboarded, or trained
through our efforts.
 Our Locations

We have 100+ full-time staff;

over 60% work on the ground.

Dharamshala

Dehradun

Govind Reserve, Uttarkashi

Rishikesh & Haridwar

Corbett Landscape