With about 1.4 billion population, India is the second most populous country in the world. Every year, approximately 277 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) is produced here. Over 377 million urban citizens live in about 7,936 cities and towns. Delhi alone generates approximately 14,000 tonnes per day of solid waste. According to experts, MSW will reach 387.8 million tonnes by 2030 and by 2050 this will increase at more than double rate. Undoubtedly, this makes waste management one of the most pressing environmental issues in India. In addition, rapid urbanisation is worsening the situation. Out of the total collected waste, about 5% is recycled, 18% of the waste is composted while the rest part is dumped at landfill sites.

Electronic waste has also contributed to the total waste material in recent years. The use of hazardous waste and bio-medical waste shot up due to the COVID-19 situation. Improper disposal of these wastes can be harmful to human life and the environment as well.

India’s improper system of waste disposal leads to various environmental and health-related problems. There is an urgent need to adopt more sustainable waste management practices, and this requires new management systems, waste management facilities and above all public awareness.

DAF has been organizing waste management awareness campaigns since 2011. Till date, it has reached out to people living in Delhi NCR. Now, we intend to connect to other regions and even villages.

• Under our Waste Management programme, various campaigns are being run to manage waste properly for building sustainable and liveable cities.
• DAF aims at creating awareness about the segregation of waste at source through our campaign of waste management.
• In these campaigns, we explain people about the importance of segregation of waste at source - essentially into three categories - biodegradable (wet waste material), non-biodegradable (dry waste material) and domestic hazardous waste (e-waste material).
• Our organisation, through these campaigns, is encouraging households and institutions to start segregating their waste at source so that it could be managed as a resource for recycling.
• The programme intends to motivate people and markets to stay aware about waste segregation and disposal.
• DAF’s each campaign is attended by a large number of participants where volunteers inform them about the perils of ignorant behaviour in this matter.
• This activity is followed by performing a range of simple activities that include identification and segregation of different waste material at homes.
• As a result, people have developed better understanding of various household wastes.