Garbage Free India

Turf Road is a street that lies within a residential area in Kolkata, India.  For decades, sections of the roadway have been a mess.  One instance that exemplifies the dilapidated state of Turf Road was an area where people urinated on a shabby, broken wall while Municipal Corporation waste collection carts sat along the sides of the road. These conditions turned Turf Road into a huge garbage heap that stank and posed a health hazard to the residents. Garbage Free India (GFI) entered the शहर GREEN करो – It’s Our Turn to Lead, Earth Day Network India contest with the commitment to raise awareness about mindless littering and garbage dumping in public places and also to bring about and create a clean and litter-free city.  A young man brought this project to GFI through social media. This man grew up in the community; his mother still lives on Turf Road and he wanted to see the area transformed.  GFI spearheaded the campaign in early March. The project inspired a strong objective to rid the community of the littering and public nuisance the mound of garbage caused by coordinating local community members, clubs, children, and residents. Turf Road stands clean after a month of hard work due to outstanding efforts from the community, youth club, residents, shop owners, and GFI. To preserve the litter-free area, GFI gave the local Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) waste collector a loud whistle to make her presence known so that people are discouraged from littering. The project also provided a new bin alongside the road and local volunteers have taken on the responsibility of informing residents about handing over household garbage to the waste collector at the designated time. With participation in Earth Day Network’s शहर GREEN करो – It’s Our Turn to Lead contest, Garbage Free India hopes this exercise becomes an example for future community initiatives and calls on cities to come together to clean up and make their communities livable. Check out the transformation!