Coca-Cola India Foundation, Anandana will jointly establish integrated waste management infrastructure along with SAAHAS, CHINTAN and HASIRU DALA, which also includes setting up of Material Recovery and Segregation Facilities (MRFs).
The facilities will be set up at multiple locations in Delhi/NCR, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka in India.
The efforts will also focus on creating frameworks for sustainable community-led approach and spreading awareness among the waste workers, scrap dealers and local administration.
Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice-President- Sustainability, said, “Waste generation rates are expected to increase more than two-fold by 2025 in urban India, largely driven by rise in incomes and growing urban populations. Together, with our partners, we want to encourage self-sustaining ventures within decentralized waste management. These partnerships are aligned with our vision of creating a ‘World Without Waste’ to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of our packaging by 2030.”
The Coca-Cola India Foundation and Anandana, focuses on to sustainable development and inclusive growth. Anandana was set up as a ‘not for profit’ company by Coca-Cola India with a view to extend its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to the community at large, particularly those that are economically and socially deprived.
To achieve this objective, Anandana focuses on supporting social projects in the domain of water stewardship, sustainable agriculture, and waste management through various partnerships with other NGOs and developmental organizations.
Geographically, Anandana focuses on some of the most backward regions of the country. Anandana constantly aspires to ensure project execution, maintenance and sustainability through active involvement and direct participation of the beneficiary community at the grass-root level.
The partnerships will also drive social initiatives such as inclusion of informal waste sector into a formal one, raising awareness of source segregation, influencing attitudinal changes in waste disposal, and protection of natural habitats among others.
Inadequate source segregation is one of the major roadblocks that hinders recycling. Burning of unsorted solid waste can also aggravate air pollution. Anandana along with various NGO partners is supporting the creation of new infrastructure for material recovery including PET and composting of wet waste.