Garbage Concern Welfare Society

Their initiatives include:

• Green Manager Programme (GMP): This is a skill development programme to tutor school dropouts and unemployed/unskilled rag pickers with skills in gardening, waste management, basic housekeeping, and also soft skills, to make them employable. GCWS conducts trainings in Latur, Karjat, and many locations in Mumbai like Dharavi. For this programme, GCWS receives sponsorship support from Mahindra & Mahindra and most of the students are placed in organisations like Property Solutions, Duster Total Solutions, 3s Envo Solutions, etc. earning minimum Rs72,000 p.a. and those who are self-employed easily make Rs1,80,000 p.a.
• Waste Management: GCWS believes that waste is a ‘misplaced resource’ and the only way to tap it is through – (i) Reduction in the eco-footprint. (ii) Reusing everything until there is absolutely no use for it. (iii) Refusing things that are not needed at all and thus making better everyday choices. (iv) Rethinking whether an item really needs to be purchased. The more this is done, the less one has to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. (v) Recycling items that are no longer of use.
• Environment Awareness: GCWS conducts Environment management workshops for corporates and Citizen Action Groups. These workshops give an insight into environment, pollution, and sustainable development, platform for proactive participation to find situation specific solutions, encouragement to confront authorities for community level issues and also to take preventive, promotive and curative steps to safeguard the environment. GCWS conducts surveys, organises street plays and competitions to highlight issues of energy conservation and environment.
• Green Space Development: GCWS has come up with the innovative idea of gifting a plant on favourable events, thereby cutting down on trivial expenses.
• Green Angels Programme (GAP): It is a life-skills development environmental education programme which builds awareness among children between 4-14 years of age. The gap between health, sanitation, and resource management in urban areas is bridged through practical environmental skill training that assures sustainable natural resource management.