“Change is difficult, but not changing is fatal.”

Taking this philosophy to heart, Dr. Soumya Prasad (an ecologist based in Dehradun),has made sustainability a way of life. She has spent many years living close to nature, researching different plants and animals. As an ecologist, living in a sustainable way and working towards preserving nature came to her naturally.

Arjun Malik (campaign organiser) interviewing Dr. Soumya in Dehradun, India

In 2015, Dr.Prasad bought an electric car, a Mahindra e20. At that time there were no public charging stations in Dehradun and hence, initially, it was very difficult for her to manage with the new vehicle. But she persevered nevertheless and eventually learnt how to use her car for everyday chores without any anxiety.
Apart from switching to an electric vehicle, she has also inculcated eco-friendly habits into her lifestyle, including using solar power for her household energy needs, growing a kitchen garden, and practicing waste management at home.

                                                                                  

In fact, her solar panels had a one-time installation cost of Rs. 26,000 per kilowatt, which saved her from a lifetime of electricity bills. Moreover, she gives back more electricity to the power corporation of Dehradun through the grid than she withdraws from it.

The DO-NO TRASH campaign founded by Dr.Prasad combines extensive research on plastic toxicity, societal structures, and communication strategies to deliver a powerful program to address behavioural change with respect to the 3Rs and waste management (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Within a year, working purely with volunteers, the DO-NO TRASH Campaign spread waste segregation and plastic consumption awareness to more than 2500 people in Dehradun. Dr Prasad also plans to spread the DO-NO TRASH campaign further into Dehradun and into Bangalore and Pune as well.

Arjun, Dr.Soumya, Ms. Riddhima 

Dr Prasad and her team want to spread awareness, especially among the youth, regarding proper waste management and preserving nature. She wants people to know about different types of plants and their uses. By doing so she feels that she can promote a sustainable lifestyle and the use of home-made detergents, soaps, floor cleaners, etc.

Waste management is one of the most pressing issues facing mankind today. Each year, human beings generate tonnes of non-recyclable waste which either get dumped into the ocean, gets deposited in landfills, or burnt. All these methods are extremely detrimental to marine life, the flora and fauna of a place and the air quality. Poor waste management practices, therefore, leave a terrible impact on planet Earth, our only home in this universe. DO-NO TRASH aims to tackle this problem by teaching people how they can contribute to saving the planet by making changes in their day-to-day habits. However, to do this in a meaningful manner that will make a significant impact, we will need to hire trained experts, who will need to get paid. As of now, DO-NO TRASH has primarily worked through voluntary efforts from scientists, teachers, designers and retired professionals. In the initial development and innovation phase, working with volunteers gave us flexibility and allowed us to find our own voice, while we designed a series of social experiments. However, now that we have formulated the course of action we need to take and mapped out the ways in which we need to move forward, we will need a permanent workforce who we can provide a sustainable wage to, so as to enable them to continue to work for us.

To increase our reach and impact, we want to focus on producing more content for the website (under construction), our Facebook group, and blog series. We also want to research the impact of our work on people who have attended our workshops or interacted with us on social media. This research is critical to help us understand what worked, and what failed to work. Primary research will help us improve the messaging and content for Indian audiences.
The funds we raise will allow us to grow our organisation. It will allow several of our volunteers to take up full or part-time positions with the Do-No Trash team.
We will be able to employ people on a contractual basis for the following positions:

CONTENT WRITER: The person hired for this position will document people and institutions addressing sustainable lifestyles in Dehradun and Northern India. These stories are the most important avenue to inspire and encourage others to adopt sustainable habits like composting, recycling, or using green energy.

• COST BREAKDOWN:For each article (max 100 words with 2-3 photographs), the content writer will be paid Rs 250. The articles will be posted both on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and the Do-No Trash blog.

WORKSHOPS COORDINATOR: The person hired for this position will coordinate home and community workshops on the impact of plastics on health, composting, natural cleansers, waste segregation, and more. These workshops are the mainstay of our work, and we want to expand our work to more locations and more cities. To coordinate a workshop, the consultant will have to network with social partners (RWAs, institutions, etc) and bring together a volunteer team that can conduct the workshops. The coordinator is required to promote the workshop through social media and smartphone apps (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram) and report in the DNT format.

• COST BREAKDOWN: For each workshop conducted, the coordinator will be paid Rs. 1000. We aim to conduct at least 8 workshops per month in Dehradun

NCR. SCHOOL PROGRAMS COORDINATOR: We want to engage with schools to get children to understand the lifecycle of products and how waste is generated. Subsequently, if the school wishes, we can help them develop sustainable waste management programs. The school program coordinator is required to engage with school administration and train teachers to implement the curriculum prescribed in the textbooks with regards to waste management, and with programmes like Garbology. We also aim to conduct regular teacher training workshops at our centre.

• COST BREAKDOWN: The coordinator will be paid Rs. 1000 for each school they establish contact with. They will have to engage with the administration and the teachers. We want to cover at least 8 schools a month across the next year, and more schools thereafter.

RESEARCHER: The researcher will conduct follow-up visits to homes and institutions that have engaged with us. The aim is to understand the extent to which our work has impacted their lifestyles, with regards to waste management and plastic usage. The content from the research can also be used for social media and blog posts, to highlight the ways in which our program is helping the environment.

• COST BREAKDOWN: The researchers will have to be trained professionals working as consultants. Accordingly, we have put together a budget for one year of expansion activities (@ Rs. 500 per interview, covering 30 interviews a month, which comes to Rs. 4,62,000).

We hope to raise this money with your support. A small donation from you will go a long way in helping us expand our organisation in a meaningful way and help us realize our goal of educating people about waste management and preserving nature.

We have put together a budget for one year of expansion in INR. Please let us know if you have any queries