COUPLE PICKING UP TRASH | INSPIRATIONAL STORY ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

World Scouting and UNEP have marked 20 years of collaboration by renewing their long-standing partnership to engage young people in climate action and education.

Countries in Asia have begun mandating that companies must pay for managing the waste they produce through implementing  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)  laws. In 2022, Vietnam – which ranks fourth globally in volume of plastic waste – became the first Southeast Asian nation to adopt EPR rules under a revised Environmental Protection Law. However, it remains unclear what the role of the informal waste sector will be under the new EPR laws.

The MRF is run by Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group which pioneered the Safai Sena (organised army of waste pickers) concept in the national capital and the 360-degree model for waste management. The MRF has been made possible by the Anandana Coca-Cola India Foundation, which is seeing this as its first pilot project for bringing informal workers into the formal workforce. The land for the project has been given by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation.