Mumbai,:After a successful year long effort to raise awareness on good waste management practices in 60 schools in Delhi and Bangalore, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) along with Tetra Pak India Pvt. Ltd. are launching the phase II of Project SEARCH, a major nationwide programme launched in 2009 to create awareness amongst school students, teachers and the school community at large about waste and the habit of refusing, reducing, reusing and recycling.  This year being the second year in the series, the project focuses on; promoting respect for nature’s resources and make an effort to reduce one’s footprint and also to understand the connection between lifestyle, consumption, waste and environment.

The year long programme was launched at MET Rishikul Vidyalaya, Mumbai. Present on the occasion were, Ms. Ranjana Saikia, Director, Environment Education & Youth Services division TERI, Ms. Mallika Kotian, Principal, MET Rishikul Vidyalaya and Mr Tushar Shah, Director, Daman Ganga Paper Boards Pvt Ltd. Project SEARCH will also engage and involve two Mumbai based organizations, RUR (Are you recycling) and SMS (Stree Mukti Sanghatana) to reach out to more schools and ensure timely waste collection from them respectively.  

Everyday a huge amount of waste is generated from households, schools, hospitals and factories. The primary factors affecting waste quantity and quality are population, urbanisation, industrialisation and the changing lifestyle. Phase II of Project SEARCH will be implemented from May 2010 to April 2011 in 70 schools in Chandigarh and Mumbai as well as 30 best performing schools of Phase I from Delhi and Bangalore. Phase II would be upscaled to reach out to a total of 1,20,000 students and teachers (20000 directly and 100000 indirectly) and it will help set up collection centres in the partner schools for the collection of dry waste, recyclables and post-consumer Tetra Pak cartons. The main aim is to make the schools a ‘garbage free zone’.  

Speaking on the initiative Ms. Ranjana Saikia, said “It is a pleasure to work again with Tetra Pak and benefit from the support they provide to such activities.  At TERI, we are constantly fighting the odds and working hard towards sensitising people, especially young students about the perils of environmental degradation. In Phase–II of Project SEARCH, I am sure we will be able to meet the target of successfully sensitizing over a hundred thousand youth about good waste management practices and the virtues of 4 Rs, making them key drivers in the essential process of enhancing environment protection knowledge followed by positive action.”

Explaining about Tetra Pak’s involvement, Mr. Jaideep Gokhale, Environment and Communications Director-South Asia Markets said “It is our pleasure to be associated with Project SEARCH and also a great learning to see so many young children turning into future icons in the field of waste management and recycling. At Tetra Pak, we believe in delivering sustainable choices that are ‘Good for you and Good for the earth’ and as Project SEARCH advances in Phase II, we hope to see this materialize into many successful waste management programs at these partnering schools.”

Main objectives of the programme are as follows:

•   To raise awareness amongst school students on environment in general and recycling in specific.

•   To instil among children good waste management practices.

•   To educate students on benefits of carton packaging that keeps the food safe and nutritious and which can be recycled easily.

•   To inculcate the habit of recycling of waste amongst students thus indirectly help mitigating climate change.

•   To help Tetra Pak set-up collection centres in schools for recycling of used Tetra Pak cartons.  

In phase I, which was a pilot, the project reached out to approximately 2500 students and teachers directly. More than 20,000 students and teachers were indirectly benefited in 60 schools of Delhi and Bangalore