Management of waste has assumed critical importance with increasing pressure on landfills and waste becoming a major pollutant in rivers and oceans.
ITC's Well-being Out of Waste (WOW) initiative promotes awareness about the importance of source segregation and recycling, and establishes systems to ensure effective practice. It collaborates with local municipalities to train waste workers and rag-pickers in these concepts and to provide an efficient collection system that covers virtually all segments: households, offices, schools, hospitals, commercial establishments, etc.
Proper segregation reduces the amount of waste going to landfills while the dry waste collected provides competitive raw material to several industries, e.g. glass, paper and plastic. Rag-pickers and waste workers also earn higher and more regular incomes.