Let’s create a zero waste world!

THE garbage that we discard disappears from our homes each morning, but the manner in which it is discarded and where it ends up going makes a massive impact on our surroundings and on human health. In our garbage cans, there might be plastic bottles mixed with leftover food mixed with scraps of cloth. This gets tied up in bags, dumped into garbage trucks and either gets recycled, incinerated or goes into landfills where it piles up with other waste creating a dangerous mixture of toxic gases that harm the water and air surrounding the landfills. This is far from the zero waste world we want to create. 

 

But how does this matter to us? The more mixed garbage we discard, the more dangerous it is to our planet and our health. This harmful mixture of waste starts to decompose and seep into our water bodies, get absorbed into the ground and spread into the air around us. When we end up drinking from these contaminated water bodies and breathe this polluted air, the contaminants enter and damage our bodies. The solution to this problem is to segregate waste at the household – before we discard it. Mission: Manage India’s Waste achieves this by working with local communities to separate waste at the source and create zero waste communities.

 

How unsegregated waste harms human health

While there are safer ways to discard waste, it is estimated that around 77% of waste that is generated from cities across India gets dumped into landfills. Landfills are large and open spaces where garbage is dumped without being segregated – since it is not segregated when we discard it in our homes. Even though these are designated sites for garbage disposal, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure the least possible harm to our environment and our health. But in most cases, these measures are ignored and waste continues to pile up and emit methane which is a dangerous greenhouse gas that leads to global warming.

 

This unsegregated waste produces leachate that goes on to contaminate groundwater which, of course, is one of the main sources of our drinking water. Leachate also seeps into the soil and makes it less fertile and affects agricultural output while causing potential contamination to crops. The damage done to the atmosphere can be noticed by the rampant air pollution being noticed in cities across India and the hazardous effects it has on the health of children and adults. These dangerous greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide – impact the environment and are one of the leading causes of climate change. 

 

How Mission: Manage India’s Waste works

There is a solution to reducing the amount of garbage that gets dumped in landfills and ensuring that the waste that does get sent to landfills is segregated and does not emit dangerous gases into our water, land and atmosphere – and this process starts at the household level. Mission: Manage India’s Waste works with a network of grassroots NGOs who in turn work with local communities to ensure that waste is segregated and discarded in a responsible manner right at the source – at the household. The aim is zero waste and this focuses on minimizing waste and promoting more sustainable practices such as recycling. 

 

Mission: Manage India’s Waste has a three-step approach to creating a zero waste world: 

– segregate wet and dry waste at the household level

– repurpose wet waste through composting

– raise awareness about good waste management practices

 

Through these approaches, Mission: Manage India’s Waste is working toward zero waste in communities through initiatives that help them adopt waste management practices which are healthier for the environment and for human health. Through these 3 core objectives, Mission: Manage India’s Waste will help countless households and communities be more responsible with regard to how they dispose of waste and ensure that our day-to-day practices are sustainable and will help the current and future generations live in a world that is not harmed by our current poor waste management strategies.

 

International Day of Zero Waste 

Each March 30th, individuals and organizations observe International Day of Zero Waste which gives us the opportunity to examine our current waste management strategies and deliberate on ways that we can improve and encourage others to follow the same practices for our collective good. International Day of Zero Waste has been observed by the UN since 2022 in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and examines the effects of pollution from food waste, plastic waste and electronic waste.  

 

How YOU can discard waste in a responsible manner

To create a zero waste world – it starts with us! Here are a few things we can each do to make sure that we send less garbage to landfills and reduce the dangerousness of the waste we discard: the five Rs:

– Refuse single use plastics

– Reduce the amount of waste created

– Reuse items such as cloth bags, containers, etc.

– Repurpose used clothing 

– Recycle plastics, paper, glass and metal

 

Mission: Manage India’s Waste works in areas that lack access to the information and resources needed to practice good waste management methods. The network of grassroots NGOs that are a part of Mission: Manage India’s Waste have successfully diverted 240,000 kg of waste from landfills and reduced 1,395 kg of waste right at the source. When you support Mission: Manage India’s Waste, you help entire communities live in cleaner and healthier surroundings and ensure that those living in close proximity to landfills do not suffer from dangerous health conditions as a consequence of coming into close contact with unsegregated waste.

Support Mission: Manage India's Waste

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