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.
Source segregation:
- Reduces amount of waste going to landfills
- Provides competitive raw material to several industries through dry waste collected, e.g. glass, paper & plastic
- Ensures regular work & enhanced incomes for waste collectors
- Generates new opportunities for recycling entrepreneurs
Impact ( As on 31st March, 2023)
- Covered over 22 million citizens in over 5.5 million households, 5.7 million school children and around 2,100 corporates since its inception
- Promoted sustainable livelihood for over 17,750 waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with municipal corporations
- Created over 150 social entrepreneurs who are involved in maximizing value capture from collected dry waste
- 64,000 MT dry waste collected from 1,270 wards