My Bhoomi is the youngest of The Satsang Foundation’s environmental initiatives, seeking to promote an eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle, defined as “ways of living, social behaviour, and choices that minimize environmental degradation while supporting equitable social economic development and a better quality of life”. While this requires a holistic approach to lifestyle choices, eventually, the My Bhoomi initiative will also encompass other aspects of sustainable living.
One of the first tasks picked up by the initiative is the reduction of the use of single-use plastic, through a comprehensive programme encouraging communities to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle/Upcycle plastic, and Remove plastic waste.
Sensitization
TSF My Bhoomi is collaborating with the Sagarmitra Abhiyaan founded by Dr. Vinod Bodhankar, on a plastic-waste collection and recycling program developed for school children from classes 5 to 9, sensitizing them about the threat posed by discarded plastic to life on land and in the oceans. The students are encouraged to transform themselves into environmental stewards, helping to protect the environment by nudging small but significant changes in their own families.
Awareness sessions at schools that have unfolded since October 2023, beginning with the Kothari International School in Kharadi, Pune have now extended to three schools of the Ashoka Group, across the city of Nashik, the epicenter of the Aviral Godavari Mission which envisages the rejuvenation of Godavari, the second largest river in India. Combatting plastic pollution and reducing the usage of single-use plastic bags form the crux of these awareness sessions.
Implementation
Built into the Sagar Mitra programme is a clear path to collection and recycling. After going through the awareness programme, the students participate in the collection of clean and dry plastic waste from their homes. Accredited recycling agencies then take the collected plastic waste for recycling.
Fifty (50) Waste Bins have been given via the Maharashtra Forest Department to all local shopkeepers on Brahmagiri near Nashik. The Waste Bins have been placed at strategic points, starting from the checkpoint, to ensure proper collection and disposal of plastic waste. This has become a stepping stone to the No-Plastic-Waste movement on Brahmagiri.
Plogging drives have also been conducted at various TSF centres and kendras, instilling the practice of walking or jogging and clearing up plastic waste from parks, the banks of water bodies, and public spaces. Special occasions such as World Water Week, World Earth Day, the “Swacchata Hi Seva Abhiyaan”, and the Indian Independence Day have witnessed My Bhoomi volunteers working in tandem with other e-NGOs in plogging and lake cleaning drives. Municipal teams have pitched in during these drives to process the collected plastic waste either at their own recycling centres or at designated centres.
Plastic waste collection drives at housing societies, organizations, and prisons are on the anvil.
The My Bhoomi team is working on Bhoomi Bags which are sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic bags. Made from 100% compostable bioplastics and primarily derived from corn starch, these bags are eco-friendly. As Brahmagiri, Nashik gears up for a plastic-waste free Nashik Kumbh Mela in 2027, the My Bhoomi teams have received official consent for widespread usage of Bhoomi Bags in Trimbak, Nashik to ensure a pristine, plastic-waste free Brahmagiri.
My Bhoomi teams are currently planning more projects, including dry and wet waste management, to ensure that we create a more liveable environment for all beings.
To participate in our endeavor to clean our environment and pave the way for sustainable living choices, please write to us at connect@satsang-foundation.org.
