Karnataka, April 2022: HDB Financial Services (HDBFS) collaborated with Saahas to support the Swachh Udupi Mission; a holistic program initiated by the district administration to manage the city waste in a scientific and a sustained manner.
Under this project, residents and commercial establishments were trained on segregating waste at source. Nearly 155,000 individuals are sensitized through various awareness activities and over 34,000 households have been practicing source segregation daily.
HDBFS supports the training programs for ward-level frontline workers such as those who help with refuse collection, segregators employed at sorting units and the staff managing the landfills. In an attempt to reduce landfill waste, tools and technical know-how were provided to aid the process of converting waste into a resource. With collaborated efforts, nearly 11,000 metric tons of waste have been diverted from the landfills till date. Compost is made using the bio-degradable waste, whereas non-degradable waste, depending on its chemical composition, is sent for co-processing.
Commenting on the initiative Environmental Engineer with Udupi City Municipal Corporation Sneha Shankar said, “through the Solid Waste Management program as initiated by HDB in collaboration with Saahas, Udupi’s waste management scenario has completely changed over the course of three years. If it was not for the machineries & other support given through the project, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve so much within so less time. We sincerely thank HDBFS for their continuous support we got from them.”
Commenting on the initiative HDBFS Branch Manager in Udupi Dayananda Poojary said, “Rapid urbanization in the country has led to challenges in the disposal and effective treatment of waste. HDBFS, through its waste management initiatives, strives to sensitize and engage the communities on responsible waste management practices in order to reduce the irreversible adverse impact on the environment.”
Commenting on the initiative Saahas CEO Archana Tripathi said, “The Udupi project has been our first city level intervention for Solid Waste Management and with the support of Udupi CMC, we have showcased a model which can be replicated in other cities as well. We are grateful to HDB Financial Services for giving us the opportunity to work on Swaccha Udupi Mission and for the constant support that we have received from their CSR team.”
The waste management program has led to setting up pilot systems to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean and providing technical inputs to the City Municipal Corporation for setting up advanced processing centres to segregate waste efficiently.
