Godrej Consumer Products and India Sanitation Coalition Join Forces to Pioneer “Plastic Circular Cities” Initiative

Delhi, 21st November 2023 — In a ground breaking effort to reshape the landscape of plastic waste management, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), a leading emerging markets FMCG company, in collaboration with the India Sanitation Coalition (ISC), with implementation partners – Sampurn(e)arth, Recity, and Feedback Foundation, launched the “Plastic Circular Cities” project today. The initiative, tailored for sustainable solid waste management (SWM), would specifically target six high-density cities in Maharashtra, each with a population exceeding one million.

 

The selected cities for this transformative endeavour include Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Aurangabad. The project’s strategic approach comprises a two-phase methodology: research and design, followed by pilot implementations across the identified cities.

 

Annually India generates 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste. Since 2016, plastic consumption has increased by 40 percent but plastic waste output has doubled in the same time. Recycling is the solution to solving this problem, but reality is far more complicated. Over 65% of the plastic recycled is only high-grade plastic. The medium-grade plastic ends up as fuel mostly in cement kilns and the low-grade plastic ends up in our overflowing landfills.

 

 

 

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), the funding partner for the research, will first delve deep into existing solid waste management plans of municipalities with a particular emphasis on plastic waste management processes in the chosen cities. The research aims to identify gaps, propose alternative solutions, and engage stakeholders to formulate comprehensive waste management strategies, including recommendations for livelihood and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).