I.

ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP ORGANISATION

Me2green

Me2green is a registered voluntary organization working in the area of Environmental

Conservation. Currently, the organizations focus is on reducing excessive use of
environmental resources.
In todays lifestyle, a lot of waste that is generated can be reused. Me2green works to prevent
useful waste going towards landfills. It encourages and facilitates recovery of useful waste
and diverts it to the people who can make use of it.
Their efforts are towards promoting social, economic and environmental betterment.
The organisation is headed by Mrs. Charvi Parikh. She was our mentor and provided us with
valuable insights and ideas to proceed with our project.

II. SOCIAL ISSUES HANDLED BY THE ORGANISATION

The social issues handled by the organisation are focussed on three areas: Action, Awareness
and Advocacy

ACTION
Me2greens Action Projects are designed to bring sustainable change in environmental
field at people, practices and policy levels.
We take help of college students for executing projects. College students the responsible
independent thinkers have fresh ideas and huge network outreach. We believe that the
generation next can make powerful change makers.

Waste segregation on college campus

AWARENESS
Me2greens Awareness Events are aimed to spread awareness about environment
conservation in a fun-filled way. Our one such event is beach clean-up. Mumbai's beaches are
littered with waste items such as water bottles, carry bags, fisherman nets, sandals, toys, chips
wrappers, and flower garlands and so on. Participants are explained what items are
recyclables and why some are non-recyclables. At the end of the clean-up drive, all recyclable
waste items are donated to association of rag-pickers or sold to local recycling vendors. This
way, participants become aware of recyclable waste items, their commercial values and
importance of segregating waste at source to prevent recyclables going to landfill.

Beach clean-up

ADVOCACY
Me2greens Knowledge Gallery is an effort for advocacy about influencing people,
policies and practices in order to bring change in the society.
We have built our Knowledge Gallery with the help of college students with whom we
work closely. The students work on me2greens projects as a part of their study curriculum,
internship or volunteering activities. They get opportunities to experience the real world at
grass root level.
Me2green values students perspective and hence encourages them to document their
observations, experiences, opinions in the form of case studies.

III. PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN

The project was undertaken to empower community for clean, green lifestyle. Me2green
NGO up with Kranti Ngo to create awareness about cleanliness among the residents of Anand
Nagar Society, Vakola. The aim of the project was to empower the girl students of Kranti
NGO so that they can become catalysts of social change.
To spread awareness among the residents of Anand Nagar, several activities were undertaken
in collaboration with Kranti NGO.
Another aspect of the project was our research on the repair industry. We interviewed several
repair vendors in the Chembur, Mumbai area to understand the scope of their business and
their views on spreading awareness about the benefits of repairing instead of disposing off
items right away.
All our findings and research were culminated in the Empowerment Kit for Kranti NGO
which can be used to spread awareness about cleanliness and benefits of repairing.

IV. PROJECT METHODOLOGY

Me2Green is a voluntary organisation currently focussed on preventing excessive usage of
natural resources. Our project, Empowering the community for a clean, green lifestyle was
aimed at engraving these same values within local communities and generating awareness. To
do so, we first decided to educate the young minds at Kranti, an NGO that works to empower
girls from red-light areas. We found it ideal to educate them and make them the social agents
to change the local mind set. Hence, the first part of our project involved conducting a cleanup drive of a vacant plot of land just in front of the Kranti house at Vakola. We started by
surveying the plot with our mentor, and understanding the source of garbage. After this, we
proceeded to conduct a survey of all the houses in that co-operative society. We did this to get
their views on the clean-up drive, reasons for incessant dumping and their willingness to join
the drive. Post this, we met up with BMC officials at Vakola, to seek their help and
permission. Though the BMC officials were very enthusiastic and more than willing to
provide help, we were unable to match timings and hence conducted the drive independently.
The BMC officials also came over to Vakola to have a look at the plot and suggest measures
to stop the dumping. We prepared an empowerment kit for the girls, which outlined the
various elements of a clean-up drive, along with important information on recyclable
materials and their uses. We successfully conducted a clean-up drive and held a workshop for
the Kranti Girls on the 15th of February, 2016. During the workshop, we explained to them
the importance of cleanliness and the various ways of upcycling old/waste materials found
commonly at home.
The second part of our project was aimed at spreading awareness about 4 Rs- Reuse,
Reduce, Recycle and Repair. The idea was to educate people about the amount of resources
saved each time an old item is repaired instead of being discarded. To do this, we talked to
various repair vendors in the area of Chembur and collected pictures. Using these pictures,
we made a poster that could be distributed at schools and colleges to reinforce the importance
of repairing and reusing items rather than discarding them. This idea stands in line with the
current mission of Me2Green, which is reducing excessive usage of resources.

VI. CHALLENGES FACED

Over the course of this project, we faced a few hurdles that can be explained as follows.
The first challenge we faced was with the residents of the housing society at Anand Nagar,
Vakola. Although they were unhappy about the incessant dumping, they were not very willing
and forthcoming to change the situation. Hence, gaining their acceptance and confidence was
a task. As per the original plan, a new BMC dustbin was to be installed near the ground to
prevent dumping. Upon talking to the BMC officials, we realised that dustbins could be
installed only on main roads. Hence we had to find a way to work around this situation and
urge residents to walk that extra distance to dispose-off garbage in the BMC provided bin.
Next, the girls at Kranti were initially reluctant to participate in the drive and clean-up
garbage. We coaxed them to do it, and once into it, they shed all inhibitions and completed
the clean-up enthusiastically.

VII. AGENDA FOR THE FUTURE

The crux of our project was to bring about a long term lifestyle change in the community to
adopt green measures in everyday life. Thus our agenda for the future will be to make sure
that the cleanliness initiative undertaken at Anand Nagar is sustained in the long run and is
also communicated to other parts of the society. It is important to understand that our planet
is highly overused and there is an urgent need to curb the usage of resources and find better
ways to reuse them for sustainability in the long run. To achieve this, it is essential that every
person in the community is well informed about the various ways in which waste materials
can be reused and upcycled. For example, old glass bottles can be painted and fitted with
lights to make for a decorative table lamp. Plastic Bottles can be cut and used as holders for
tiny saplings. By reusing everyday things in such simple ways, we can make a mammoth
contribution to the environment and do our bit in making the planet a better place to live in.

VIII. INTERNSHIP LEARNINGS

We learned about different ways to dispose waste like paper, plastic, glass and which waste
products can be recycled and reused. Making a new product requires a lot of materials and
energy - raw materials must be extracted from the earth, and the product must be fabricated
then transported to wherever it will be sold. As a result, recycling and reuse are the most
effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money. It
also allows products to be used to their fullest extent and thus reduces the amount of waste
that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators.
Other important learning form the internship was about the importance of The Fourth "R" in
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle which is Repair. As crucial as it is to reduce, reuse, and recycle, it's
equally vital to honor the fourth, often forgotten "R:" repair. Restoring this missing "R's"
rightful place alongside the other three at the center of our collective environmental mantra
would save mountains of valuable resources, money, a lot of landfill space, and prevent toxic
pollution, too.

IX. ANNEXURE

CLEAN-UP DRIVE AT VAKOLA

WORKSHOP FOR KRANTI GIRLS

WORKSHOP FOR KRANTI GIRLS