End-of-Year ReportApril 2017 - March 2018

Supported by

Dharamsala

Founded in 2012, Waste Warriors is a not-for-profit organization and registered society committed to tackling

India’s garbage problem. We do this through a combination of clean-up drives, waste collection services,

awareness-raising, community engagement, and local advocacy. With an emphasis on civic pride, education,

and developing sustainable waste management systems, we intend to clean up India.

Who We Are

Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh

has 17 municipal wards; 3 of

these are in the bustling hills of

Upper Dharamsala: Bhagsunag,

Forsyth Ganj, and McLeod Ganj.

Waste Warriors Dharamsala

operates in Bhagsunag ward,

including in the Dharamkot

community, at Gallu check post,

and on Forest Dept. land on

trails and at the Triund campsite.

Where We Are

Triund

Bhagsunag

McLeod Ganj

Forsyth Ganj

Gallu

Dharamkot Bhagsu Waterfall

Waste Warriors Dharamsala is where our entire organization’s vision and spirit was born. In April 2017, with the

financial support of your team at HT Parekh Foundation, our project was given a new lease of life. Our team

works harder than ever to take on the enormous task of managing hundreds of tons of waste produced

annually by lakhs of tourists who come through McLeod Ganj to visit Bhagsunag, Dharamkot, and Triund.

Our team’s ability and perseverance are tested daily, but our determination to keep these mountains clean has

never wavered. Our project provides a formal livelihood to eight Green Workers, who previously were informal

migrant ragpickers. Our combined waste collection effort mitigates the hazardous effects of waste pollution on

mountain air, water, and soil, and educates locals, businesses, and tourists.

What We Do

1. Intensified clean-up drives.

2. Expanded waste collection operations.

3. Amplified public awareness initiatives.

4. Transformed public spaces & tourist areas.

5. Improved collaborations with authorities.

6. Refined approach to school education.

7. Boosted recruitment & mentor network.

8. Organized SWM projects in new areas.

9. Enhanced data management methods.

10. Maximized visibility of HTPF support.

What You Have Helped Us Achieve

1. Intensified our clean-ups in heavily littered areas● Conducted 99 clean-up drives at Triund, Bhagsu & Gallu

waterfalls, Dharamkot (Lower/Upper), and all roads trails to/from Bhagsu (Lower/Upper), including to McLeod Ganj.

● Organized over 490 Indian and foreign volunteers.● Dedicated over 410 work-hours to clean-ups.● Collected over 8 tons of litter in 871 waste sacks.● Convinced over 50 local residents to participate.● Segregated and sold over 3.3 tons of recyclables.

We also conducted our first waste audit where

workers and volunteers manually segregated a

100 kg sample of mixed waste from Triund into

brand categories to identify major producer

companies who are obligated to coordinate

waste retrieval programs under India's new

Extended Producer Responsibility policies.

2. Expanded door-to-door waste collection operations

We provide a regular door-to-door collection (DTDC) of solid waste service for establishments in Bhagsunag (Lower and Upper), Bhagsu & Gallu waterfall trails, Dharamkot (Lower and Upper), Heini village, and Gallu. CUDP NGO (Tibetan Settlement Office) - the municipal contractor which has DTDC operations for McLeod Ganj, has not been able to do so in Bhagsu, which is why we have:

● Employed and trained 8 Green Workers (migrant ragpickers).● Worked with over 240 establishments (houses and businesses).● Collected and carried over 180 tons of waste in 2017-18 FY.● Manually segregated waste into 7 recyclable categories.● Around 35% of the collected waste was recyclable and saleable.

In Bhagsunag, inadequate ward-level municipal waste disposal services forced local residents and businesses to dump or burn their waste, usually in the nearest naala or ravine. Some people carried their waste to municipal bins, but the hilly terrain and sparse bin placement made that impractical.

3. Amplified our tourist and community awareness initiatives

Our initiatives target McLeod Ganj and Bhagsunag’s high floating population of predominantly weekend tourists who are

the main source of litter. We strategically place our branded canopy at tourist entry points and directly engage tourists,

which increases the visibility of our work in addition to the branding on our volunteers and staff during clean-ups.

● Operated a station for 10 segregated bins at Gallu check post for over 100,000 tourists who hike to Triund annually.

● Installed 12 anti-littering and pro-environment sign boards on heavily touristed and littered hiking trails.

● Organized clean-ups and awareness events on tourist-heavy public holidays: Independence Day (Bhagsunag),

Gandhi Jayanti (McLeod Ganj), Diwali (Bhagsu Waterfall), Boxing Day (Triund), and Republic Day (McLeod Ganj).

4A. Transformed public spaces and tourist trails

● We have transformed spaces that have no municipal or Forest

Dept. waste disposal system by installing 45 public dustbins,

spread out over the McLeod-Bhagsu Rd, in Bhagsunag (Lower

and Upper), on Bhagsu waterfall trail, and Dharamkot (Lower

and Upper). The bins are monitored and emptied regularly by

our Green Workers.

● We have collaborated with Indian and international artists to

create 5 beautiful eco-conscious murals: one each in Gallu,

Dharamkot, Bhagsunag, McLeod Ganj, and Dharamsala (our

mural near ISBT is the largest in the city).

● We collaborated with a prominent upcycling artist to create the

largest art installation in the city, a creation made of painted

plastic bottles and a metal mesh frame called “The Plastic Heart

of McLeod Ganj” placed on the McLeod-Bhagsu Road. This

art-piece has now become a popular tourist spot for photos.

4B. Transformed public spaces and tourist trails

At Gallu CheckpostNear Dharamsala ISBT

Dharamkot Taxi Stand On Bhagsu-McLeod Rd.

5. Improved our collaborations with local unions and authorities● We had initially planned to dedicate a Green Worker to McLeod Ganj to

clean up specific areas, but due to CUDP’s extensive presence of 40

workers, and insufficient funds, we did not want to compete and instead

focused on awareness-raising. For example, to preemptively target

tourists, we distributed 200 bilingual awareness placards to taxis with the

support of the 3 taxi unions of Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj. Placards

are placed behind the driver’s seat at a passenger’s eye-level. Drivers tell

passengers to read our basic “do’s” and “don'ts” for their waste and litter.

● We advocated for a formation of an eco-society of establishment owners

on Forest Dept. land past Gallu check post and at Triund. The society’s

first meeting was constantly delayed due to local elections and the

off-season. The goal is for members to bring their own waste back down

for segregation, and to charge entry fees and a deposit for litter bags. In

May 2018 the DFO reimbursed us for organizing Triund’s waste collection.

● Dharamsala Mayor’s Office and HP Public Works Dept. have both shown

support for our work and the murals we’ve organized and created, and we

are being reimbursed for our contractor costs.

6A. Refined our approach to school administration and students

● We collaborated with an artist (a former AIESEC Malta

chapter president) to conduct 4 hands-on upcycling

sessions with 4 different schools (Bhagsu GSSS, Gatri

Primary School, Tibetan Children’s Village School, and

Wood Whistlers International, Naddi), and 1 session with

Tibetan Women’s Association (McLeod Ganj), to teach

how to make art and useful items from recyclables.

● We recruited an educational assistant in August 2017. In

September in Ambala, during the ‘Oye Ambala’ municipal

campaign, Waste Warriors Dehradun and Dharamsala

staff implemented a teacher-training program with

educational toolkits on waste management and civic

engagement. Teachers from 97 schools were trained,

with 40,579 students being taught the toolkits. 4228

students participated in events and activities.

6B. Refined our approach to school administration and students● In October, our staff modified the toolkits to engage

schools and train teachers beyond our project area. Many obstacles postponed our plans: slow response from school administrations, public holidays, local elections, and board exam schedules. In November, permission to conduct the program from Deputy Directors of Elementary and Higher Education allowed us to convince teachers to agree on a date for our first teacher training session in the first week of December 2017.

● We learnt from the session that teachers could not teach the material in English, requiring us to contract a professional translator to translate 11 toolkits into Hindi. We simultaneously began developing a comprehensive impact assessment to enable us to monitor and evaluate each school’s waste management implementation. However, following the resignation of our Education Asst., our school program has stalled. We’ve found a new recruit and need funding to support the position and our plans.

7. Boosted recruitment and mentor network with institutions and organizations● Our volunteering partnership with FSLIndia and Ruchi remained strong; our compelling WorkAway profile

consistently provides multiple international volunteers weekly; and we are developing stronger ties with

volunteering NGO OmPrakash to draw international students and researchers.

● We increased our internship intake to 9 this year from institutions like Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of

Youth Development (Chennai), Gandhi Fellowship (Kaivalya Education Foundation), Tata Institute of Social

Sciences (Hyderabad), ITM University (Raipur), and Paris Descartes University (France). In summer 2018 we

will be hosting interns from IIM Indore, EFL University (Hyderabad), TERI School of Advanced Studies

(Delhi), Central University Himachal Pradesh, University of Lucerne, and University of Venice.

● We are developing networks of advisory support from renowned organizations like Integrated Mountain

Initiative, Global Shapers, and McKinsey.org; from influential municipal-level companies like BASIX

Municipal Waste Ventures (Indore) and Waste Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. (Hyderabad); and from established

institutions like Xavier School of Sustainability (Bhubaneswar), Indian School of Business, and Ashoka

University.

● Our efforts towards waste management and environmentalism have also been recognized: Waste Warriors

Dharamsala was awarded the Free Spirit Award 2017 and the Tong-Len Social Work Appreciation Award

2017; and this January Waste Warriors Society was awarded the Panama Karmayogi Award 2018.

Community members of new geographical areas have

approached us to plan and implement SWM practices for them:

● Gallu waterfall trail on Forest land is vulnerable to tourism

development; we’ve preemptively distributed segregated

waste sacks, installed branded anti-littering signs, and

assigned a worker for waste collection from cafes.

● Phase 1 of our SWM project in Kaza, with the assistance of

Spiti Holiday Adventures, involved comprehensive waste

surveys and community clean-ups, education sessions

with schools and tourist establishments, dustbins and

signs, and building trust with local authorities. Phase 2 will

begin in late summer 2018.

● Kareri village and lake are both vulnerable to influx of

tourists and littering in peak season; we’ve completed an

establishment survey to assist our local partners to start

door-to-door waste collection, install dustbins and signs,

and educate the local population and tourists.

8. Organized early phases of SWM projects in new geographical areas

9. Enhanced our data collection methods and data management systems.

To implement and monitor waste cleanups and collection

service, we restructured the way we collect and manage

our data. Our entire office staff are trained to effectively

use the cloud-based integrated capabilities of Google

Suite to collaboratively work on core project activities. Our

centralized Google Drive data management significantly

minimized administrative inefficiencies from outdated or

lost data files, and allowed for secure sharing of all core

project data and media. We used:

● Google Docs to collaborate on plans, proposals,

reports, and other project documentation.

● Google Sheets for recording data-centric activities:

surveys, clean-ups, weights, service dues, etc.

● Google Forms for registration, recruitment, surveys,

and assessments..

● Google Slides for presentations materials..

10. Maximized the visibility of HT Parekh Foundation’s support

We have extensively branded all publicly visible materials with HT Parekh Foundation and HDFC logos, including on t-shirts worn by clean-up volunteers, staff, and green workers, on our canopy, on awareness-raising print materials, on public anti-littering signage, and on digital graphics shared on social media platforms.

Thank you for your support!

Dharamsala

Prepared by:Chirag Mahajan (Project Manager)