An all-women group based near Mumbai is going the extra mile to make Maharashtra’s plastic ban a success. Urjaa Foundation, an NGO run by working professionals and homemakers, has collected over 35 tonnes of plastic waste since December 2016 after conducting 17 collection drives in Thane and Dombivali.
In a conversation with InUth, Urjaa Foundation member Meghna Joshi said, “We are an all-women group of 41 members committed to create awareness about the hazards of plastic use. Men also participate in our plastic drives but as volunteers only.”
“We are targeting plastic waste management and its recycling in an eco-friendly way. To achieve this we consistently take various awareness sessions at schools and colleges. We appeal to citizens to segregate the plastic and bring that to us on the selected locations on declared dates. We undertake this activity at an interval of 40 days in Dombivali and Thane as of now,” she explained.
“In our last plastic collection drive,which was on 24th June 2018, we had collected almost five tonnes of plastic in Dombivali and Thane.” she noted.
In its plastic initiative, Urjaa has been getting a lot of support from Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation. The civic body has set up multiple plastic banks where people can go deposit their plastic waste.
“KDMC is definitely supporting us. They have provided us with space for conducting the plastic drives in Dombivali. They have also provided us with ghanta gaadis for collecting the plastic from societies, colleges and schools,” she said.
The group is also helping educate underprivileged kids and actively provides support to aged and differently-abled people.
