PROGRAMS

“WIRED FOR CHANGE” – E-WASTE INITIATIVE

Challenge:

In our constant endeavour to tackle environmental pollution, our new initiative on E-waste is one small step by SIF but we hope it is a giant leap for Mumbai and India towards eliminating electronic and electrical waste pollution.

E-waste is one of the most toxic and fastest growing waste stream in the world with more than 54 million metric tonnes of E-waste being generated worldwide annually. India is the 3rd largest producer of E-waste and Mumbai, the highest producer in India. Lack of awareness and knowledge about the correct method of disposal of E-Waste is resulting in air, water and soil pollution, causing various life-threatening illnesses. 

Action:

Our two-pronged strategy of creating awareness and holding collection drives aims at educating students and adults alike about the hazards of incorrect disposal of electronic and electrical waste.

Secondly it helps in inculcating the habit of collecting all E-waste at home/offices and giving it to a government authorised recycler for correct disposal. 

Impact:

We have successfully conducted several drives across Mumbai in several prominent educational institutions like Villa Theresa High School- Peddar Road, BTTC – Colaba, Kanakia International High School – Chembur, Adv. Babasaheb Apte Law College – Dadar, MMP Shah College of Commerce – Wadala, to name a few.

We have also held collection drives in housing societies like Ajmera Islands- Wadala, Zeon- Wadala, L&T Crescent Bay- Parel and others.

“If we cannot eliminate, then let us manage our E-waste” – This being the guiding philosophy of our initiative, we cannot stress more on the advantages of recycling as 17 different types of precious metals can be extracted from E-waste including gold, silver, copper, nickel etc reducing the burden of mining the same. 

Our tie-ups with MPCB and CPCB approved recyclers like Threco Recycling Co. & EcoReco has enabled us to hand over more than 2000 kgs of E-waste for safe recycling. 

Vision:

Our goal is to reach out to maximum people and institutions to spread awareness and help set up permanent system for safe disposal of E-waste and ensure we keep making positive changes in the world bit by bit.

1. Maa Ka Haath, Sehat Ke Saath

(Health and Nutrition workshops for young mothers)

SIF conducted workshops for mothers of underprivileged children associated with learning centres run by Sparsh Charitable Trust. Through a presentation and visual aids, these mothers were educated for the first time about the essential nutrients in food and the importance of balanced diet for healthy growth. Healthy yet low cost preparations were discussed. Importance of exercise was also emphasized.

 

 2. My Bag and Me, Always Together

 

    Sanskar India Foundation collaborated with Angel Xpress Foundation to conduct   workshops for under privileged children, associated with the learning centres run by them.

The children were educated about the harmful effects of plastic and   plastic bags on our   environment. They were taught to make ‘no sew’ cloth bags from old t-shirts, which they   painted in the Christmas theme and happily put them to use.

 

 

 

 

 3. Upliftment of Women

 

 

Working at the grassroots is an essential part of any organisation that seeks to bring about social change. With this intent, SIF began working with women in two low income communities in the city.  Beginning with civic, environment and health issues that were relevant to the lives of these women, we moved on to having regular sessions on areas of their needs based on surveys and consultations with them.

Motivational talks on the importance of generating awareness on cleanliness and proper garbage disposal, fun-filled educational summer camps for their children, experts’ talks on health problems, mehendi application & other skill development training workshops, tree plantation, health and an eye check-up camps and events on national festivals were some of the programmes conducted.

 

 

 

a. Cleanliness Campaign

 

Motivated by the SIF talks on the importance of cleanliness and proper garbage disposal, the women decided to take charge and with help from MCGM clear up a huge garbage dump accumulated over several years.  It was heartening to note that they chose to conduct the activity on International Women’s Day – A day that celebrates women empowerment.

 

b. Newsmakers & Gifting Love

 

Along with raising awareness about the need to reduce plastic usage, we realised the need to find an easy alternative to plastic bags, which would serve the dual purposes of being eco-friendly and providing income to women.  Thus, were born our paper bag projects –News makers and Gifting love.

After surveying shops in the area and convincing many shopkeepers to switch to paper bags, we trained ladies in the art of making bags from old newspapers and natural glue. These bags were marketed by these ladies to nearby shop keepers.

Gifting love involved making gift bags from superior quality handmade paper.  Several women from low income backgrounds were trained in this art and the bags prepared by them were embellished and hand painted by SIF volunteers and sold to interested buyers. This helped the women supplement their incomes

 

c. Information Talks

 

SIF organised talks by experts on health and other issues at the request of the residents of the communities.

Two workshops were conducted on the formation of savings and support groups, one on the legal rights of women and two more on women’s health for adolescent girls and menopausal women. An educative session was conducted by an expert speaker on the benefits that can be drawn from the Pradhan Mantri Yojna courses as those on computers, beauty therapy, and other electronic courses.

The sessions were extremely informative and went a long way in helping the women understand and deal with various issues that they were facing.

 

d. Health Camps

 

A general health check-up camp as well as an eye camp was conducted free of cost on request of the residents of a community examination various ailment were diagnosed and the patients were assisted with follow up treatment.

 

1. Eco-Friendly Holi Workshops

 

Every year these workshops are conducted in all Sanskar schools, other schools, housing societies and special centres. The thrust is to impress upon kids, the hazards of chemical colours and how the manner of our celebration wastes and pollutes water, our most precious resource. The highlight of these workshops is the demonstration of making colours through easily available kitchen ingredients. The idea inspires kids to come up with fascinating combinations of colours and celebrate an eco-friendly festival with minimal wastage of colours.

 

 

2. Eco-Friendly Rakhi Workshops

 

Under the guidance of SIF teachers, Sanskar children celebrate the Rakhi festival with an eco-friendly twist. Twisting and braiding rakhis out of old scraps of cloth and recycled decorations, the children come up with brilliant pieces of art to express their love for their brothers.

 

 

 

3. Eco-Friendly Ganesha Workshops

 

Besides all the schools in which the Sanskar programme is conducted, SIF has regularly conducted Eco-friendly Ganesha workshops each year in housing societies in Andheri and Bhakti Park as well as in special centres like SHARE, SUPPORT, YMCA etc. 

Each year SIF educates thousands of children on the hazards of water pollution caused by idols made of Plaster of Paris and coloured with toxic, metallic paints. They are inspired, through workshops, on making eco-friendly idols out of clay or mud.

 

 

 

4. Eco-friendly DIWALI

 

While the spirit of Diwali radiates positivity and love, our young Sanskaryans ensure that the celebrations reflect the same sentiment. Inspired through our workshops, they craft eco-friendly decorations, lanterns, water candles and flower rangolis to ensure that the festivities cause no harm to the environment.

5. Eco-friendly Christmas

 

Our Christmas workshops are much loved and anticipated by our young citizens. During these workshops we teach them how to create unique decorations from safe reusable and mostly recycled materials shunning thermocol, plastic and other environmentally harmful materials.

 

1. Beach Clean Ups

 

For the last many years, SIF has been organising Beach Clean Up drives to clean Girgaum Chowpatti the day after Ganpati Visarjan.  Roping in volunteers from corporates like RBS, NGOs like SHARE and colleges like Siddharth College, Lala Lajpatrai College, Bombay Teachers’ Training College and College of Social Work, SNDT University, the SIF team helps clear the beach of littered plastic bottles, wrappers, broken pieces of idols, flowers and other offerings.

 

 

 

2. Traffic Safety Drives

 

SIF conducts workshops, awareness sessions with presentations on traffic rules and safety in the month of January every year. The children go all out to impart traffic safety tips to fellow students and adults through talks, skits and rallies.

 

 

 

 

3. Drive Against Plastic Bags

 

Committed to the cause of environment preservation, SIF endeavours to reduce the use of hazardous plastic through education and action. Informative sessions on the harmful effects of plastics are often followed by campaigns against plastic bags. several workshops on making cloth and paper bags inspire kids and adults to adopt these safer alternatives.

Taking our campaign, a step further SIF started a unique initiative “Recycled Cloth Bag project” to recycle old clothes into cloth bags. Women from disadvantaged backgrounds were involved in this project which helped them earn well for themselves.  They stitched bags from old bed sheets and curtains collected from schools and housing societies. These bags were used to give away gifts for an annual function of J B Petit High School for Girls. They were also distributed during a Ban Plastic campaign conducted at Churchgate station on Earth Day and to vendors in the Colaba vegetable market on Environment Day.

This project served the dual purposes of both recycling waste materials in the form of old clothes and provided a source of income for the women in the community

 

4. Campaign – Say No to Firecrackers

ommitted to empowering citizens with environment-friendly values, SIF has been conducting campaigns against firecrackers since 2004. Our enlightened kids go all out to spread the message – from skits to assembly speeches to flash mobs to signature campaigns and street marches, you name it and Sanskar kids are doing each of these and more to ensure as many people sign up to a cracker-free celebration.

Announcing a massive, citywide campaign in the year 2014, students of 12 colleges joined an SIF rally against firecrackers on marine drive and 3 human chains for the same cause. To rope in youth and adults alike for the cause, SIF organised 2 online competitions to encourage more participation. The citywide campaign was a resounding success with thousands of children, youth and adults giving up firecrackers.  It resulted in Mumbai witnessing a quieter and less polluted Diwali that year.

Each year we carry on similar initiatives with school and college students to spread awareness on this vital cause.

5. Tree Plantations & Greening Drives

 

Dedicated to the cause of environment, SIF believes in going beyond awareness by taking corrective action. SIF decided to conduct a series of tree plantations to make a lasting impact on the environment. Starting in the year 2009, SIF has conducted over 25 tree plantation drives in schools and other areas. Two of these, one in Mumbai and one in Pune, were in collaboration with KPMG. Around 300 saplings have been planted in these drives which evoked great enthusiasm in children who participated in the plantations and promised to care for them thereafter.

Sanskar India Foundation hopes to make this an ongoing exercise and help green more areas.

 

 

 6. Workshops and Exhibitions

 

Through the workshops and exhibitions, SIF encourages children to spread the message of environment responsibility to friends and families.

SIF has conducted and participated in several exhibitions in schools and colleges to mark special days like Earth Day, Environment Day and World Water day as well as to spread awareness on important environmental and health concerns. Students, educated on the importance of environment preservation, exhibited their learnings through charts and models made using waste or recycled materials.

 In 2009 and 2010, SIF organised 20 day long “Waste to Wealth” workshops, sponsored by LG Electronics, in several schools across the geography of Mumbai. These workshops which were demonstrational in nature managed to reach the twin messages of reducing waste and the importance of greening to over 4500 children in a fun-filled and interesting manner. The workshops were highly appreciated by the school Principals and children alike.

‘Waste to wealth’ and ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ and workshops were customised in 2011 and 2012 for St Catherine Home and St Joseph School and sponsored by Siemens and KPMG. Children learned proper garbage disposal through games and activities enjoyed making their own paper through recycling waste paper.

In Dec, 2012, SIF partnered with AISEC Mumbai (a college students organisation) to conduct workshops over 5 days, on craft and art from waste, in 3 Municipal School Complexes for over 2500 children. SIF took the lead at all stages – organizing permissions, conducting site visits to identify suitable schools, recruiting resource persons, training volunteers, scheduling and conducting the workshops.  The event was a huge success.

SIF participated in the Kala Ghoda Festival for 2 consecutive years to spread important environment messages to thousands of citizens through workshops on vermi composting, eco-friendly and dry Holi, Paper recycling. Skits performed by children of J B Petit High school for Girls and Kendriya Vidyalaya 3 gave important social and environment messages to the public

In October 2017, three workshops were conducted for Life of Light Trust on Lantern Making, Diya Making and Eco-friendly Rangoli. Children were sensitized to the problems created by firecrackers and the need to have eco-friendly celebrations. They were also made to understand the dangers of plastic and need to avoid plastic-based decorations. All materials used for the workshops were eco-friendly and a lot of it was recycled

Each year several similar workshops continue to be conducted in several schools across the city, special centres like YMCA, Life of Light Trust and Coast Guard ladies’ association as well as housing societies.

 

7. Citizen Activation Movements

 

 In order to sensitise citizens to the alarming water crisis in Maharashtra and promote crucial water conservation practices, SIF conducted a citizen activation movement for the same. Another movement was conducted on the importance of banning plastic bags, a major environment and health hazard.

 

a. Save Every Drop Campaign

 

  ‘Save Every Drop’ campaign was held on World Water Day, 22^nd March 2013.  Garnering the support from the Central Railways authorities, Sanskar India Foundation (SIF) and Green Add (GA) joined hands to launch this campaign at the CST Terminus. With a group of volunteers, we fanned out across the station to talk to the thousands of railway commuters throughout the day to spread awareness of criticality of the water crisis and provide simple solutions for the same.

This campaign saw an overwhelming response with thousands of commuters participating from different walks of life: students, office-goers and general public. Over 1300 people participated in the” Save Water” Signature Campaign,” pledging to save every drop of water, enlisting their own stories and innovative ideas to save water, and vowing for a Waterless & Eco-friendly Holi. This initiative drew a lot of support from everyone, from the Railway authorities to media people, with RJ Jeeturaaj from Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, interviewing and promoting the cause on radio.

On 22^nd March, 2014, a similar campaign was conducted on SNDT University Campus to enlighten the youth and enroll them for the cause.  Hundreds of students pledged their support through a signature campaign and went all out to spread the message through slogans and posters.

 

b. Ban Plastic Bags Activation Movement

 

With plastic usage rising every day, especially in Mumbai, the threat to our health and environment was reported to be as serious as that posed by nuclear weapons. The Supreme Court also announced that India was sitting on a plastic time bomb

Sanskar India Foundation (SIF) decided to act by partnering with Green Add to launch a massive citywide drive, on 22^nd April, Earth Day 2013, to ban plastic bags.

The Campaign was launched for the public at Churchgate Station, with the support of the Railway authorities. A group of 20 volunteers fanned across the station to talk to thousands of railway commuters throughout the day. A parallel activity was conducted by our volunteers at Colaba Vegetable Market with the help of students from Army school to spread awareness of the harmful effects of plastics and provide simple solutions and practices that we could embed in our daily lives to reduce the use of plastic. Free cloth bags, made from old curtains and bed sheets were distributed to vegetable vendors and customers using plastic ones.

This campaign saw an overwhelming response with thousands of commuters participating from different walks of life: students, office-goers and general public. Over 1200 people signed the ‘Ban Plastic Bags’ pledge and promised to use cloth bags in future. This initiative drew a lot of support from all –commuters, vegetable vendors, shoppers, office goers and students to Railway authorities and media people, with IBN Lokmat channel covering it live and TOI reporting it.

 

7. TOHFA  ZINDAGI KA – An Organ Donation Awareness Project

 

Sanskar India Foundation took up the cause of spreading the message on cadaver organ donations in 2009. Abysmal awareness levels and poor response to cadaver organ donation prompted SIF to conduct several workshops in offices and colleges in order to dispel myths around the subject. We partnered with SIMSREE and roped in college students to address the fellow students. These workshops encouraged many participants to pledge their organs for donation.  It is heartening to note that there is now an increase in the number of donations as well as organizations that have joined hands for the cause.