PepsiCo initiates clean-up drive in Mathura
PepsiCo’s philanthropic arm, the PepsiCo Foundation, as part of its recently launched Initiative around solid waste management — Purna, organised a clean-up drive at an open dump yard close to the busiest Vrindavan Railway Station. The drive was supported by Mathura Vrindavan Nagar Nigam (MVNN), and saw participation of volunteers including city residents, college students, members of market associations and religious institutions. The cleanliness drive witnessed participation from close to 100 volunteers uniting the community to take collective action to make their city clean, green and a live model of efficient solid waste management.
06 Aug 2022 | 3158 Views | By Rahul Kumar
The clean-up drive was an effort to kick off one of the most ambitious projects in solid waste management in Mathura-Vrindavan, to bring awareness on responsible waste disposal behaviour and the ecological threats of littering in the city. Through this initiative, PepsiCo Foundation is committed to make Mathura-Vrindavan one of the cleanest holy cities of India by developing a circular, equitable and inclusive model of plastic waste management along with transforming its waste workforce into waste professionals.
Anunaya Jha, IAS, municipal commissioner, Mathura-Vrindavan, said, “We congratulate Purna team for this initiative among their other initiatives that has paved a way for awareness on safe waste disposal techniques and the importance of waste segregation.”
Juhi Gupta, head, sustainability, PepsiCo India, said, “At PepsiCo, we have been consistently working towards building a world where plastic never becomes waste. As part of Purna, our endeavour is to help Mathura-Vrindavan achieve circularity of plastic, empowering our waste workers to become professionals, and addressing the issues of gender inequality and economic disparity prevalent among the communities. Our partnership with Mathura- Vrindavan Municipal Corporation and Recity Network for this project involves creating 100 dignified waste professionals that can turn the city around by forming an equitable circular waste management system in Mathura by the end of 2022. The clean-up drive is our way of bringing together the community and moving towards the change we are driving.”
Vivek Dave, project lead, Purna, said, “Purna is committed to bringing together different players of the waste ecosystem of the city and achieving a vision of a circular, equitable and inclusive model of plastic and solid waste management in the twin cities. Today, we are greatly humbled by the support we have been provided by the city administration, PepsiCo foundation and the people in this cleanliness drive.”
The project will be implemented in phases in Mathura-Vrindavan and aims to professionalise 100 waste workers, diverting 500 metric tons of city waste from 4,000 property units comprising 20,000 citizens. Capacity building waste workers will then use technology to monitor waste management and unlock the value of waste by aligning the supply chain towards segregated collection, lower leakage, and recycling different kinds of waste.