Promotion of Countermeasures against Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India - UNEP and Development Alternatives

Promotion of Countermeasures against Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India - UNEP and Development Alternatives

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  Promotion of Countermeasuresagainst Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India Countermeasures Initiative - Learning from perception surveys and behaviour change communication in Haridwar and Prayagraj
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  • Project cities– relevance • Factors contributing to the marine litter problem • Findings from the Perception Survey • Our stakeholder connect • Communication for Behaviour Change strategy • Strategy and Approach – at each level; research and action connect • Gaps and recommendations Contents
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  Project cities: Relevance Gangaentering plains – major pilgrimage spot Residential population of 2.29 lakhs with an area of 12.3 km sq - Census 2011,Nearly 2 crore tourists every year . At time of Kumbh – 10 million (district website) City generates nearly 25TPD of Solid Waste out of which 5-6% is plastic waste HARIDWAR Confluence of three rivers – pilgrimage spot Residential population of 11.1 lakhs, with area of 82 km sq High footfall during major melas/events- Kumbh Mela nearly 24 crores- district website Contract for waste collection given to Hari Bhari PRAYAGRAJ Ganga is one of the top 10 rivers that carry plastic waste to the ocean - study published in Environmental Science and Technology Journal
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  Findings from thePerception Survey City Perception HARIDWAR Ganga Sabha ‘Plastic cans are still one of the major plastic item used by the visitors’. ‘Apart from that clothes and plastic sheets are found in river waste’. Lack of strict penalization and fines. Nagar Nigam ‘Need measures or alternatives to improve city waste disposal system- which currently end up on landfill sites’. School Children ‘Forty-Four percent students perceive that they know little about plastic pollution, while 32 percent perceive that they know quite a lot’. ‘Major sources of information are TV and social media’. ‘60 percent of the students say that the primary reason for use of the plastic is the low cost and wide availability’. Shopkeepers ‘No dustbins installed in the market area, leads to dumping of waste in either drains or streets which eventually end up in the river’. PRAYAGRAJ Navik ‘The plastic used for packaging of feed for Siberian crane is thrown by the visitors into the river during boat rides. ‘Navik ka nadi se Sambandh hai Sukhne ya Pradushit hone pe arthvyavastha par prabhav padega’ Kalpvasi ‘Some perceive that burning is a solution to get rid of plastics, not aware of proper means of disposal of plastics’. School Children ‘Ninety-six percent of students feel that the disposal of plastics should be taught’. Generally aware of the issue amongst all stakeholders we interacted with – All respondent groups indicated at specific problems to find solutions for!
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  Findings from Clean-upDrives Haridwar – Vishnu Ghat •Institutions Involved: NPC, Aakanksha Enterprise, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), College students, volunteers from other DA projects •No. Volunteers Involved : 100+ •Major Findings- •Area : 1220 sq.m •Total waste collected : 186 kg •Total plastic collected- 61% of total waste •No. of plastic types : 21 •Major types of plastic : Multilayer food wrappers, polythene and polyester + light packaging Haridwar- Pant Deep Parking •Institutions Involved: NPC, Aakanksha Enterprise, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), College students, volunteers from other DA projects •No. Volunteers Involved : 100 •Major Findings- •Area : 1345 sq.m •Total waste collected : 48 kg •Total plastic collected- 67% of total waste •No. of plastic types : 14 •Major types of plastic : Polythene packaging, multilayer packaging and thin silver foil Prayagraj – Near Aamitabh Bachan Puliya •Institutions Involved: NPC, Ragpickers, Safai Karamchaaris, Local Community, College Students •No. Volunteers Involved : 80 •Major Findings- •Area : 1380 sq.m •Total waste collected : 359 kg •Total plastic collected- 37% of total waste •No. of plastic types : 10 •Major types of plastic : Multilayer plastics and Thin polythene Prayagraj – Below new Yamuna Bridge •No. of volunteers involved: 75 •Area : 862 sq.m •Total waste collected : 342 kg •Total plastic collected- 35 % of total collected waste •No. of plastic types : 13 •Major types of plastic: Polythene bags(less than 50 micron category), milk packets, pharmaceutical wrappers, spice packets, injections, canes, plastic cement bags etc
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  Factors contributing tothe marine litter problem Conflict between religious practices and the need to reduce plastic use Lack of collection systems and infrastructure – 203 plastic litter hotspots in Prayagraj Slums not on collection radar and major leakage points in Haridwar Lack of affordable alternatives for pilgrims/small businesses Notion of plastic only limited to polythene BEHAVIOURAL INFRASTRUCTURAL SYSTEMIC Lack of economic value chain for managing plastic waste Huge influx of people during festivals/melas – lack of capacity to deal with the waste No evaluation of services provided by private contractors
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  Achievements Stakeholder connect Connected tomore than 10 stakeholders from diverse background Linked with faith based leaders Recommendation letter from Municipal Corporation in Haridwar Invitation by Ganga Sabha to carry out awareness generation activities during Kumbh Capacity building and awareness generation campaigns In the form of BIG sessions and awareness generation activities. Reached to 1500+ numbers Used creative means – street plays, magic shows, signature campaigns, rally etc. at the prime locations. Reached to 5000+ people. Eco clubs formed in school Used local volunteer groups – Swachhagrahis and sanitation workers Communication Used traditional and social media Social media – 14 posts divided into issue- activity- call for action . Traditional media – 35 posts in 2.5 months – 15lakh+ circulation copy Designed leaflets in Hindi, brochures for stakeholders Radio – 1.25 crore listeners Outreach video – 50-52 LED screens in Prayagraj, main LED screen in Haridwar Jingles – through radio and speakers at prime locations Mega Event – Humara Sankalp Plastic Mukt Ganga Organised at major location – Sangam and Har Ki Paudi In Haridwar with support from Ganga Sabha Participation by influential speakers – administration, Civil Society, Faith leaders, academia in both the cities More than 2000 people attended and took pledge Organised signature campaign in Haridwar. In Prayagraj a small demonstration – collection of 1500 PET bottles and handing to Nagar Nigam. This was done in support from sanitation workers
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  CAMPAIGNS AND WORKSHOPSMEGA EVENT STAKEHOLDER CONNECT
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  COMMUNICATION
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  Based on thesurvey, potential stakeholders and sites – like shopkeepers for value chain demo were identified. One pilot on converting plastic packets into low- grade diesel planned. Perception Survey and stakeholder meetings Two Clean-up drives Ten BIG sessions One Mega Event Stakeholder Workshop Demonstrating a value chain for safe disposal or recycle of plastic Communication material designed Strategy and Approach – Research and Action  Each on-ground activity was informed by findings from the perception survey and interactions with local partners and Municipality. Lack of information on negative impact on marine ecosystems – included components on life cycle of plastic waste, types of plastics commonly available, target groups identified Groups of volunteers for conducting clean- up drives
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  Data for international databasegenerated Perception Survey with different stakeholders and stakeholder meetings Two Clean-up drives Ten BIG sessions One Mega Event Stakeholder Workshop Demonstrating a value chain for safe disposal or recycle of plastic Involved religious institutions – Shri Ganga Sabha Reached city-wide audience Strategy and Approach – Process Chain Groups of volunteers for conducting clean- up drives Informed stakeholder groups Identification of potential stakeholders for collaboration, local network building Data on plastic waste generated in the city, gaps in Municipality level systems identified Collaboration between partners explored to demonstrate a functional example in the cities
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  Our stakeholder connect Youth& PilgrimsNavik Reducing Single Use Plastic Faith Leaders Ganga Sabha Shop keepers District Admin CSOs Swachhagr ahis, Sanitation Workers Media • Ganga Sabha – Connecting with other stakeholder groups, specially faith leaders. Associated to organise major campaigns and events at Har Ki Paudi, including the mega event • District Administration – Understanding the problem, connecting with their contract companies, responsible for collection and management of waste • Pilgrims – Organised awareness campaigns • Shopkeepers – Associated for value chain demonstrations • CSOs – AYUS, SDC • Indian Institute of Petroleum • Youth – Major volunteer group, Eco-clubs in school • Faith Leaders – 10 ashrams, reaching to thousands of followers • Navik community – Major stakeholder power to influence lakhs of pilgrims, held capacity building and awareness session • Volunteer Group – Sanitation workers and Swachhagrahis – created awareness and demonstration of a small value chain of PET bottle collection • District Administration – Problem analysis, display of outreach video • Shopkeepers – Capacity building and awareness session • Youth – Volunteer group, Eco- clubs in school Haridwar – targeted Har Ki Paudi Prayagraj – targeted effort in Magh Mela Used to amplify the message
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  Communication for behaviourchange One Way Connected with AIR FM Used two channels – Primary and Vivid Bharti channels for broadcasting 30 min program – importance, issue, call for action Mapped what was locally acceptable Used local artists – modified the content Performed at major sites Organised before the mega event to build momentum Animated video – importance, issue, individual steps that can be taken Contacted Municipal Corporation for displaying it on LED screens. Used the same in capacity building session Dates were selected through religious calendar Organised at prime locations Involved diverse stakeholders Prepared jingles and video were played during the event Prepared 8 jingles- song on Ganga followed by a message Played through radio and speakers Developed leaflet – distribution through volunteer group Program brochure for stakeholder group
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  Communication for behaviourchange Two Way – BIG Sessions •Prepared the module • Incorporated learning from perception survey •Used different methods of delivery with different target audience – Naviks, schools, shopkeepers, sanitation workers, religious leaders, etc Learning by Doing - Clean up Drives •Volunteer groups majorly from capacity building workshops Media •Orientation of media personnel's in the beginning •Strategy for social media post •Designing of template for these posts •4 platforms – twitter, intsa, FB and LinkedIn
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  Gaps Behavioral Infrastructural Systemic 1. No strategyfor promoting moral and environmental consciousness over religious identity 2. Limited knowledge – life cycle of plastic and negative impacts of pollution not clear, understanding of plastics limited to polyethene 3. Absence of compulsory use of alternatives at institutional level 1. Absence of basic infrastructure such as dustbins in prime locations 2. Current fleet of collection vehicles not built for segregated collection 3. Slum along the main river or drains not included on the waste collection route of the Municipality - major plastic leakage points 1. Apart from some fraction of MLP that is sent to cement kiln, no other value chain for disposal/ recycling of different categories of plastic 2. No punishments/ fines for littering/leakage from institutions along the river 3. Alternatives not available 4. Periodic awareness programmes and communication not prioritised 5. Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of services provided by private contractors and mandatory resource recovery
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  Recommendations and wayforward Behavioral Infrastructural Systemic 1. Continuous capacity building and awareness generation programs 2. Municipality+CSO led promotion of alternatives - especially during major events 3. Using creative means to disseminate information 4. Working extensively with faith based leaders, using them to spread the message 1. Basic infrastructure upgrade – dustbins installed at a 50m distance on prime locations. Frequent waste collection. 2. Informal waste collectors to be included in the system to recover maximum resources during collection 3. Collection system to be connected to CSOs making products out of waste material 4. Slums to be included on the collection map 1. Pilot demonstration of some waste recycling/ co-processing solutions such as – SUP to IIPM, HDB into sheets. Enhance entrepreneurship around plastic recycling, technology and capacity development 2. Strengthening the partnership and network in cities especially with the city government and on ground stakeholders. Opportunities with other funding agencies like GIZ being explored. 3. Govt schemes such as SBM, Namami Gange to be synergized with Municipal level waste management system and initiatives such as UNEP countermeasures. 4. Affordable alternatives to be brought to compulsory use in govt. offices, Ganga Sabha establishments, Municipal institutions, main markets in the cities 5. Higher fines on littering and open dumping
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  THANK YOU