Global Recycling Day 2022: Lauding the Efforts of Recycling Fraternity

Every year on March 18th, Global Recycling Day is observed to help recognise and celebrate the importance of recycling in protecting our planet’s future. The goal of the day is to persuade world leaders that recycling should be a global concern and to inspire people to be inventive rather than wasteful when it comes to the items they encounter.

What is Global Recycling Day?

The Global Recycling Foundation, which was formed by Ranjit Baxi, who is also the creator of International Recycling Ltd, an international company that ships waste materials from Europe and the United States for recycling into new products in Asia, launched Global Recycling Day in 2018.

It’s a day to promote awareness about the necessity of recycling in conserving our natural resources and ensuring our planet’s future.

The goal of Global Recycling Day, according to Mr Baxi, is to connect with other recycling programmes throughout the world that are “doing their distinctive part.” The day urges individuals to reconsider what they toss away while also emphasising the importance of recycling to our ecosystem.

Global Recycling Day serves as a reminder that recycling is at the forefront of the fight to rescue our planet and humanity’s future.

Global Recycling Day 2022: Theme

The theme of Global Recycling Day 2022 is to celebrate “recycling fraternity” – those who put themselves on the frontline to collect waste and recycling during the multiple lockdowns.

Mr Banjit said: “Without the efforts of the recycling fraternity – an essential service – clearly putting themselves at risk with the increased waste from masks, personal protective equipment, and food during the pandemic, civil society would otherwise have suffered even more hardship if waste had been allowed to accumulate uncollected and untreated.”

Social Alpha Pushing Forward The Narrative For A Circular Economy through support for #RecyclingHeroes

Social Alpha has recognised changemakers that are innovating in the space of waste management and contributing towards building a circular economy for a better tomorrow. Social Alpha has taken it upon themselves to fund these startups in order to further their efforts in the area of waste management.

In December 2020, Social Alpha collaborated with the H&M Foundation to identify innovations that accelerate waste management and processing in India along with built income stability for the informal waste pickers. As a part of their three-year program, the selected startups were aided in-field deployment of the selected innovative solutions and supported other fronts in their growth journey. After a rigorous evaluation process, 5 start-ups were selected to be a part of Social Alpha’s first Accelerator programme. These startups brought with them creative and innovative solutions to waste management while supporting the informal waste-pickers economy.

– ZeroPlast collects biomass waste and processes it into bioplastics and composites, creating alternate packaging materials.

– Loopworm works to create a circular economy around food waste by synthesising valuable products such as pet feed/livestock feed through insect farming solutions.

– MuddleArt enables recycling and upcycling of pre-consumer textile waste by integrating women from the waste picking community at the crux of the operations to establish a supply chain of sorted waste.

– Phool upcycles flower waste to create innovative consumer products such as incense sticks and organic colour. With deep-tech research, Phool has also successfully developed an eco-friendly and commercially viable alternative to animal leather called ‘Fleather’, which was recently awarded PETA’s best innovation in the Vegan World.

– Swachha addresses the challenges with low-value plastics destined for incineration and processes it into asphalt for road construction and surfacing

Since June 2021, 4 start-ups have commenced pilots on-ground and they have been able to generate formal employment for more than fifteen waste pickers and have achieved a 63% increase in average income of these waste pickers. The program is scheduled to launch another Techtonic in April 2022 and begin the second Accelerator in May 2022.

Two of Social Alpha’s portfolio companies, Hasiru Dala Innovations and Phool, have been working in the waste management space for more than years during which they have closely worked with the waste picker community as well as the community previously involved in manual scavenging – creating employment through the entrepreneurship model to solve deep rooted challenges in the waste management space.

Hasiru Dala Innovations works to enhance the lives of waste pickers through the creation of sustainable and predictable livelihoods using innovative, circular economy centric business models. Hasiru Dala offers Total Waste Management Services to responsible bulk waste generators, Event Waste Management for those who want to conduct eco-friendly events, EPR Solutions for organizations and export of PET abroad to be recycled into polyester yarn. Since 2011, Hasiru Dala has worked to bridge the gap between waste workers and other stakeholders, such as the local governments, policymakers, and citizens, while improving the lives and livelihoods of waste pickers. In 2021, Hasiru Dala actively worked with over 40 wards in Bengaluru and their dry waste collection centres and handled a total of 13,656 metric tonnes (T) of waste[1]. Hasiru Dala currently services over 430 clients in Bengaluru.

Phool, along with its success in the Social Alpha x H&M Foundation’s Accelerator program, has been making great strides in the space of waste management and upcycling. They offer a lean solution to the monumental ‘temple-waste’ problem in India. Phool collects 8.4 tons of floral waste from temples in Uttar Pradesh, India, daily and in the process addresses the issue of improper disposal of flower waste. These sacred flowers are upcycled and handcrafted into charcoal-free incense and organic vermicompost. Phool’s products are handcrafted by women flower cyclers, thereby providing them with predictable and sustainable livelihoods. ​In October 2021, Phool received investment from actor Alia Bhatt who admired their journey and wanted to support the start-up in creating a sustainable and circular economy based D2C brand.