In response to the urgent need for plastic waste management, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) positively impacted more than 33,000 households across three wards of Mumbai—K-East (Andheri East), H-West (Bandra West) and R-North (Dahisar)—through a plastic waste material-recovery model. The project will be scaled to include more households in the coming years.
The technology-powered model will enhance segregation, collection, and recycling of all kinds of plastic waste along the value chain, creating resource efficiency and supporting a circular economy. This has been done with the support of the Brihan mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Consumer Citizen groups such as the Swachh Parle Abhiyan who played an important role in driving awareness around collection and segregation of plastic waste at source.
The program has helped collect and segregate dry waste with nearly 2500 tonnes of plastic waste being collected so far. Over 500 Safai Sathis(waste collectors) have been on-boarded as part of this initiative.
To demonstrate the success of the model, HUL hosted a virtual roundtable on driving end-to-end plastic waste management in Mumbai, in partnership with UNDP and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The roundtable showcased HUL-UNDP’s partnership to establish the model where, along with collection and recovery of dry waste, there was a focus on driving behaviour change to promote waste segregation at source. Through this project, HUL and UNDP are also ensuring the wellbeing and financial inclusion of Safai Sathis. The project is aligned with the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission, Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, and Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018.
Sanjiv Mehta, HUL Chairman and Managing Director, said, “Our vision is one where key stakeholders work together to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment. As a responsible company, we are committed to playing our part. The HUL-UNDP-MCGM end-to-end plastic waste management pilot is a right step towards keeping plastic waste out of the environment, and a similar model can be widely rolled out across the country.”
