Project Revitalization Responsibility of Reconstruction
Why was this project needed?
Every morning, sanitation workers come to collect garbage. These individuals, who often work in societies and on roads, rely on this work for their livelihood. Many of them have been doing this work for generations. In Thane alone, there are over twenty thousand such waste pickers and sanitation workers. Nearly one lakh people depend on garbage collection or cleaning work for their survival. In addition to this, there is no official count of those working with scrap dealers or in waste processing industries.
Waste pickers and sanitation workers have remained in the lowest class of labor. Beyond that, there has been no real change in their quality of life. While all recycling entrepreneurs and so-called scrap dealers have become millionaires, the true upliftment of sanitation workers and waste pickers has never actually happened.
How Did It Begin?
Through the Project Punar-nirman (Reconstruction Project), Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth took on a new and significant challenge. While implementing the waste management project, the organization was clear from the beginning — we are neither processing entrepreneurs nor scrap dealers. We entered this field to bring about systemic change, foster individual development, and positively transform societal values.
There was no focus on profit or loss. Any surplus generated from the project was used for two key purposes: first, to improve the standard of living for sanitation workers, and second, to develop essential infrastructure for them within the project. Even while facing financial challenges, Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth, through its Punar-nirman initiative, has successfully elevated these projects over the past eight years.
Organizations like UNICEF have recognized Project Punar-nirman as a model project and featured it on their official platforms. However, there is still a long way to go. We firmly believe that decentralized waste management is the only sustainable solution, as it benefits all stakeholders. Managing 100% of urban waste is not a challenge—it’s an opportunity.
Waste management was never the primary mission of Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth—not in the past, not today, and not in the future. Our goal is to bring about true systemic change.
What Has Been Achieved So Far?
- What began in 2017 with just 20 households has now reached over 75,000 families.
- In Thane, we collect dry waste from more than 500 pickup points and are connected with over 1,200 housing societies.
- We collect around 10 tons of waste daily, amounting to over 300 tons per month, which is then sent for further processing.
- Through this project, we have successfully improved the standard of living for over 40 women waste pickers and helped bring them into the mainstream of society.
What Are the Future Plans?
We are working towards involving more people from Thane and Mumbai in this movement, with the goal of empowering more women waste pickers through the project.
We are also creating a blueprint of this initiative so that it can serve as a model project, inspiring and guiding similar efforts in other cities.