The initiative is supported by Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. as a part of its Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) and implemented by Recity Network Pvt Ltd.
Pondicherry: In order to mark the 75th year of Independence, Project KEEP – Namma Pondy Clean — in partnership with Pondicherry Municipality and Swachhta Corporation, announced the launch of a series of special initiatives across the city towards building awareness on cleanliness, proper disposal of waste and single use plastic ban throughout the year.
The initiative is supported by Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. as a part of its Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) and implemented by Recity Network Pvt Ltd.
A statement said, “During the anniversary year, under the KEEP Namma Pondy Clean initiative on India@75, on-ground awareness events, stakeholder outreach meetings and forums will be organised and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials will be distributed to drive mass awareness. Various events for formal and informal waste workforce including medical camps, distribution of occupational IDs, enrolment to government social schemes and trainings around health, hygiene, workplace safety, technology and financial literacy will also be undertaken as part of the initiative.”
The planned 75 initiatives will be kick started with a mega transformation of the Rock Beach – “Love for Litterbins”, intended to inspire visitors at the beach to adopt no-littering and responsible waste disposal practices in the city.
In addition to this initiative, several other activities including cleanliness rally, clean up drives, waste related competitions, door to door awareness programme involving residents, school children, market associations, waste workers, local NGOs, urban local bodies are also being organised. Empowering and building economic resilience of our waste workers will also be a focus area of this year-long campaign.
Funded by Godrej Consumers Products and implemented by Recity Network, Project KEEP is a CSR initiative with a vision to achieve circularity of plastics in Pondicherry by scientifically managing 140 tonne per day of waste generated, professionalising 405 waste workers and establishing a circular economy by 2024.
Commenting on the Project KEEP’s Independence Day celebrations, Ravideep Singh Chahar, Director, Local Administration Department, said, “The Rock Beach is an important tourist location in the city. As a part of the 75 years of celebration of Independence and in alignment with our PM Narendra Modi’s vision for Swachh Bharat, Project KEEP’s “Love for Litterbin” initiative sends out a strong message that Pondicherry takes its cleanliness and the central government’s directives on single use plastic seriously. We are committed to preserve the ecology of the city and assure Project KEEP team our full support in their initiatives that would accelerate positive action which is necessary to transition Pondicherry into circularity of plastics.”
Nandkumar, Project Lead, KEEP said, “Rock Beach’s popularity is unprecedented in South India fetching millions of visitors annually. The idea is to surprise a regular visitor of the beach with the transformation and humanise the beach and litter bins who will be doing the talking to the people directly. These bins are painted and are carrying big red coloured hearts to fetch people attention, calling out to adopt a practice of using bins to throw trash and save ocean from plastic trash. Beach is talking through attractive pole buntings asking people to go sustainable in their lifestyle for the sake of their city. The messages are young and quirky that would connect with people leading to positive action.”
Sharing views in the same vein, Gayatri Divecha, Head CSR & Sustainability at Godrej Industries Group said, “At Godrej Consumer Products, we relentlessly work towards creating a world where plastic waste gets efficiently managed so we avoid adding to landfills or the further polluting oceans. We are glad that Project KEEP’s unique Namma Pondy Clean initiative is furthering our commitment to help Pondicherry achieve circularity in plastics and scientifically manage municipal solid waste via collective participation, which is in line with our mission to create a greener and more inclusive world.”
