12 June, 2023:In a bid to make Pondicherry one of the cleanest coastal cities in the country, an initiative KEEP has been implemented by Recity Network and supported by Godrej Consumer Products. The development of contextualized, inclusive and resilient models for solid waste management in Pondicherry is undertaken. This World Ocean Day, project KEEP Namma Pondy Clean and Pondicherry Municipality successfully completed 75 events to coincide with the 75th anniversary of India. Last year on the 15th of August the campaign to conduct 75 events in the upcoming span of 12 years was launched. The objective was to foster collective action in the waste ecosystem management of Pondicherry. On June 9 the early completion of 75 events was celebrated at the Achariya Auditorium Thengaithittu.
Mr Sivakumar, Commissioner, Pondicherry Municipality, Mr. Lakshminarayan, Minister LAD, Mr. Sakthivel, Director, LAD, Mr. Mutthamma, IAS, Secretary, Science & Technology Department along with other dignitaries graced the occasion. The event included a felicitation ceremony of 65 stakeholders representing the waste value chain. These comprised local communities, government departments, schools, non-profit organisations and elected representatives, who had made the campaign a success,
Project KEEP, in keeping with the theme of this year’s World Ocean Day. Mr Shivakumar mentioned has shown that “Tides are Changing” in Pondicherry. He said the scale of behaviour change and the public participation that was catalysed by this sustainability initiative was indeed overwhelming. These were critical for the efficient and sustainable waste management systems. He added that they were proud to be associated with this initiative and committed to sustaining the momentum.
Project KEEP is implemented by Recity Network and funded by Godrej Consumer products. Over 300 MT waste from landfill has been successfully diverted. In the last three years 61000 + property units, 50 + schools, and 600+ waste workforce of the city has been engaged. A sanitation park which is also known as a dry waste collection centre has been set up in Vambakeerapalayam. This has a daily operational processing capacity of 4 tons of dry waste.
Commenting on the three-year journey of Project KEEP Ms Ahona, Sustainability Head, Godrej Consumers Pvt. Ltd. (GCPL) has said that the solid waste of India holds a staggering potential and could be an economic gold mine. The processing of the vast expanses of waste is however, a shared responsibility of all. With the collaboration of Recity local residents and municipalities are driving a shift in the collective perspective. Waste is no longer seen as a nuisance to be swept away but can be a reservoir of untapped opportunities.
Scientific waste management infrastructure enlightening citizens about waste segregation and providing dignity and safety to sanitation workers has been fostered by Project KEEP.
Ms. Meha Lahiri, CFO, Recity Network, also mentioned how they were happy to be contributing to the mission of their partner GCPL. The mission was to keep plastics out of the environment and in the economy.
As part of this initiative various events for the formal and informal workforce were conducted.
Over 50 clean ups in the city have been conducted by Project KEEP and it has been working closely with 470 formal and 130 informal waste workers.
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