Saahas

Saahas conducts campaigns involving students, volunteers and others advocating the 3 principles- reduce, reuse and recycle. Ongoing campaigns include the bE-Responsible campaign in Bangalore focused on the hazards of improper disposal of e-waste, and the SWM campaign in Chennai that promotes waste segregation.

Technical support and capacity-building initiatives are deployed in Urban Local bodies, gram panchayats and other communities. Under the Ashakirana project in rural Bangalore focused on the disposal of dry waste in villages, Saahas conducted awareness sessions for the ASHA workers on sanitary waste.

Saahas’ solid waste management projects aim to provide comprehensive support for the implementation of sustainable waste management practices to urban local bodies (ULBs), gram panchayats (GPs), and communities. The initiatives encompass various activities, such as developing information, education, and communication (IEC) materials to raise awareness about waste segregation, establishing community waste processing facilities at the ward level, setting up on-site processing facilities, and supporting waste management efforts in areas with vulnerable communities. The focus is on promoting source segregation, enabling decentralized waste processing, and creating effective waste management systems to minimize environmental impact and enhance community well-being.

Its Social Inclusion programmes are designed to promote the integration of waste workers into formal solid waste management systems. These initiatives involve conducting skill development and enhancement programmes specifically tailored for waste workers, providing them with training and resources to improve their capabilities. The organisation also strives to create jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for waste workers through repair, reuse, and recycling initiatives.

The organisation studies, analyzes and formulates policy recommendations for the Government. An example is the expansion of a biogas facility project in the Koramangala ward, Bangalore. Funded by CGI, the project assesses the expansion of the biogas plant’s capacity. Saahas is an implementation partner in this project.