Monthly Archives: February 2022

HOUSTON, Feb. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Hello Alice, the largest platform helping small businesses launch and grow in America, proudly announces that 2022 will be the Year of Small Business, a movement in partnership with NAACP, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), and Mastercard. The Year of Small Business (YOSB) will open up equitable access to capital, direct consumer spending toward small business owners, and provide business education, networks, and opportunities to 3 million small business owners.

As small business owners continue to experience lasting challenges brought on by the pandemic, optimism remains high. The Year of Small Business movement will support and strengthen small businesses in all 50 states and across industries, igniting public support over the next 12 months and encouraging every American to buy small.

"Small business owners are the backbone of our economy, and it is time for all of us to buy small and bring our neighbor's businesses back online," said Elizabeth Gore, co-founder and president of Hello Alice. "Along with our partners NAACP, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, GEN, and Mastercard, we're committed to providing every necessary resource, including additional access to funding, educational accelerators, and more."

In a recent Hello Alicestudy of over 400,000 small business owners*, at least 30% of those surveyed list funding as their greatest business challenge, with Black and multiracial owners reporting it at the highest rates. With a focus on the New Majority - people of color, women, LGBTQ+, entrepreneurs with disabilities and our U.S. Veterans - the YOSB initiative will include a grants program with a goal to distribute $30,000,000 in grants, utilizing Hello Alice's best-in-class grants administration process and wraparound services.

"Everyone should have the same opportunity to start and grow their own business but whether you look at long-standing systemic barriers or more recent global challenges, that just isn't the case," said Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network. "We are excited about this partnership and the support it will provide will allow small businesses to not only survive, but to thrive in a post-pandemic economy."

In addition to the grants program, the Year of Small Business will feature opportunities to support and spotlight small business owners throughout the year including:

"Mastercard is committed to empowering small businesses with digital solutions, data insights and tools to support their sustainable growth, and amplify the role they play as the lifeblood of our economy," said Ginger Siegel, North America Small Business Lead at Mastercard. "We're proud to partner with Hello Alice on the Year of Small Business to broaden our collective impact and celebrate the small business community."

In a survey of 2,800 Black owners on the Hello Alice platform, no group is more optimistic in expectation of growth than Black business owners, 84% predicting growth in 2022, but they continue to be faced with the challenge of raising capital. 34% of Black entrepreneurs surveyed cited this as their primary obstacle.

"Without a doubt, Black-owned small business owners continue to endure disproportionate barriers, including a lack of access to funding, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only worsened these obstacles," said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. "What makes small business ownership so essential is that it provides a means of generating long-term, multi-generational wealth. Extending support to small businesses today can help bridge the racial wealth gap now and into the future."

In addition to raising capital, Hispanic owners cite challenges such as acquiring customers, hiring, and operating their business at rates significantly higher than other groups.

"Small businesses create two of every three jobs in America and they need our support now more than ever," said Ramiro A. Cavazos, President & CEO, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC). Each one of us has a role to play to support our local small businesses, especially our 5 million Hispanic-owned businesses who have been hit hard."

Additional data from the recent report shows small business owners remain positive about the future despite the challenges. 79% of owners are optimistic that their business will grow in 2022, and only 2% are expecting their performance to worsen in the new year. 55% of companies plan to hire this year.

For small business owners, organizations, and corporations interested in getting involved in the Year of Small Business, please visit https://helloalice.com/the-year-of-small-business/. Please direct all media requests to Sabine Lavache, [emailprotected].

*Based on data compiled from 412,516 business owners across all 50 states.

ABOUT HELLO ALICEHello Aliceis a free, multichannel platform that helps businesses launch and grow. With a community of nearly 600,000 business owners in all 50 states and across the globe, Hello Alice is building the largest network of owners in the country while tracking data and trends to increase the success rate for entrepreneurs. Our partners include enterprise business services, government agencies, and institutions looking to serve small- and medium-business owners to ensure increased revenues and promote scale. A Latina owned company, founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore, we believe in business for all by providing access to all owners including women, people of color, veterans, and everyone with an entrepreneurial spirit. To learn more, visit http://www.helloalice.com, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

ABOUT THE NAACPFounded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

NOTE: The Legal Defense Fund also referred to as the NAACP-LDF was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP, but separated in 1957 to become a completely separate entity. It is recognized as the nation's first civil and human rights law organization and shares our commitment to equal rights.

ABOUT THE UNITED STATES HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCEThe United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) actively promotes the economic growth, development, and interests of 5 million Hispanic-owned businesses, that combined, contribute over $800 billion to the American economy every year. The USHCC is America's largest small business advocacy group, representing more than 260 local chambers and business associations nationwide, and also partners with hundreds of major American corporations. For more information, please visit ushcc.com. Follow us on Twitter @USHCC.

ABOUT MASTERCARD (NYSE: MA)Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

http://www.mastercard.com

ABOUT GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP NETWORKThe Global Entrepreneurship Network operates a platform of projects and programs in 180 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business. By fostering deeper cross border collaboration and initiatives between entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurial support organizations, GEN works to fuel healthier entrepreneurial ecosystems that create jobs, accelerate innovation and strengthen economic growth. For details on the programs and initiatives that make up GEN, visit http://www.genglobal.org, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

CONTACT: Hello AliceSabine Lavache[emailprotected]

SOURCE Hello Alice

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HELLO ALICE LAUNCHES THE YEAR OF SMALL BUSINESS, A MOVEMENT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NAACP, US HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP...

Across industries, the great cleanup is underway. Driven by tightening regulations, pressure from investors, and shifting customer preferences, companies are striving to reduce the burden of their activities on the planet. This quest for sustainability requires action on many fronts, with changes to supply networks, manufacturing processes, and business models. Companies are also rethinking how their products are designed, engineered, and used, looking for ways to meet performance and quality requirements while using fewer resources across the full life cycle of everything they make.

Two factors are pushing design up the sustainability agenda. The first is technological: an ongoing shift of lifetime emissions from product operation to product production. The shift is partly thanks to user demand for extra features and capabilities that require additional materials to deliver. But its also because technical changes designed to promote efficient operation tend to involve additional product complexity. For example, domestic heat pumps require more materials than the gas or oil boilers they replace. Compared with their energy-hungry predecessors, high-efficiency electric motors may contain additional carbon-intensive materials, including extra copper and rare-earth magnets. The variable-frequency drives that are used to optimize the control of these advanced motors need their own circuitry and semiconductor components.

Perhaps the highest-profile example of this shift is the transition from internal combustion engines to electric propulsion, which is reshaping the life-cycle emissions profile of passenger vehicles. One study found that about 20 percent of the carbon generated by a diesel vehicle comes from its production, with most of the remaining 80 percent emitted at the tailpipe. An equivalent electric car, by contrast, produced fewer emissions in the use phase but required additional carbon-intensive materials in the battery. If electricity for the vehicle came from fossil fuels, productions share of lifetime emissions would rise to 45 percent. If the vehicle were charged using only renewable energy, production emissions would account for 85 percent of the total (Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1

The second reason for increased scrutiny on design sustainability is the recognition that the design phase is typically the most powerful and cost-effective point to address the resource footprint of future products and services. Companies have long known that design decisions determine most of a products manufacturing, operating, and maintenance costs. The same logic applies to sustainability. Our analysis suggests that while R&D accounts for 5 percent or less of the total cost of a product, it influences up to 80 percent of that products resource footprint.

Design affects sustainability in multiple ways. Products with greenfield design for sustainability may use less material or replace high-footprint virgin materials with lower-impact recycled or biologically based alternatives. Swiss sports-shoe company On, for example, has developed a fully recyclable shoe made from bio-based synthetic materials. Instead of simply selling the product, the company offers a subscription model for consumers. Worn-out shoes will be sent back to the manufacturer for disassembly, with the consumer receiving a new pair in return.

Companies have long known that design decisions determine most of a products manufacturing, operating, and maintenance costs. The same logic applies to sustainability.

Design decisions can also determine how easily a product can be repaired, upgraded, remanufactured, or recycled at end of life. Consumer-electronics company Fairphone uses a modular design for its devices, with the aim of eliminating planned obsolescence by allowing components to be replaced by the user if they fail or become outdated.

Leading organizations are already achieving impressive results by focusing the effort and ingenuity of their R&D teams on the sustainability imperative. For many R&D functions, however, a key challenge is finding ways to meet new demands for enhanced sustainability alongside the ongoing need to control costs, meet new customer needs, and differentiate their products from those of their competitors.

Executives tell us that the ability to manage this additional complexity represents the next frontier in the development of high-maturity R&D organizations. Of course, some companies have already made step-changes in their capabilities in recent years. For example, traditional design-to-cost methodologies have evolved into todays design-to-value (DtV) approach, with its focus on the cost-efficient delivery of the features that matter most to customers. And more and more businesses have also made great strides in digitization, using new tools and data sources to accelerate the product-development process and improve its outcomes.

Design for Sustainability (DfS) extends and expands these approaches, requiring organizations to adapt their existing tools, adopt new ones, and upgrade both the infrastructure and capabilities of the R&D function (Exhibit 2).

Exhibit 2

To achieve DfS at scale, companies can address three interrelated elements in the R&D function. First, how will they rethink the way their products use resources, adapting them to changing regulations, adopting circularity principles, and making use of customer insights? Second, how will they understand and track the emissions and cost impact of design decisions to achieve their sustainability ambitions? Third, how will they foster the right mindsets and capabilities to integrate sustainability into every product and every design decision? Lets look at each of these elements in more detail.

The biggest opportunities to improve sustainability often come from changes in the wider value chain that surrounds a product. Leading companies take a holistic perspective on sustainability, examining the way products are transported, packaged, handled, and usedand what happens to them at end of life. They talk to and observe customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders in the value chain, then they use the resulting insights to generate creative improvement ideas.

One quick-service-restaurant company, for example, wanted to reduce the amount of packaging waste generated by its stores. When the design team looked at the complete value chain, it found that a significant fraction of that waste was generated by the intermediate packaging that protected products in transit from factory to store.

That inspired a complete redesign of the packaging value chain. The company developed an aesthetically pleasing, resource-efficient, and recyclable package that could protect products all the way from production to the customers hands. Individual products were then consolidated in lightweight, reusable, and returnable containers to protect them in transit. Those changes helped the company reduce total packaging waste by 18 percent, with less of that waste going to landfills. The company also cut overall supply-chain greenhouse-gas emissions by a third.

Sustainable design is fraught with complexity and trade-offs. Substituting recycled material for virgin material might at first appear to reduce the carbon footprint of a productbut transportation emissions might outweigh any gains if recycling plants are concentrated in far-off locations. To make decisions such as these, design teams need good data on the environmental footprint, costs, and risks associated with different materials and manufacturing options. And they need effective tools that allow them to analyze different options quickly and accurately.

Such tools are now becoming available. Resource cleansheets, for example, extend the cleansheet cost-modeling methods that mature organizations already use to support the design and procurement process (Exhibit 3). By including greenhouse-gas emissions into their bottom-up models of products and processes, companies can compare different design, manufacturing, and supply-chain options. Or they can benchmark their current approaches against the best available to identify the biggest improvement opportunities.

Exhibit 3

Because resource cleansheets also include cost data for materials and manufacturing steps, companies can use them to find winwin opportunities that simultaneously reduce costs and associated emissionsor at least to compare the relative value of options that improve the products environmental footprint but cost more.

Combining rigorous, granular analysis with creative thinking can unlock solutions that deliver the combination of better environmental performance, lower costs, and greater customer value. One major footwear company, for example, used this approach to redesign the packaging for its entire product range. Optimizing the box design, switching to recycled cardboard, and reducing the print area and number of colors helped it cut the carbon footprint of the boxes by almost half. Those changes also delivered a cost reduction of almost 20 percent. Choosing to reinvest some of those savings into a switch from oil-based printing inks to a bio-based alternative would generate a further 9 percent carbon-footprint reduction (Exhibit 4).

Exhibit 4

The work also revealed that the organizations policies had a real impact on packaging-related emissions. The special tooling used to manufacture some packaging types was responsible for a significant fraction of their carbon footprint, and frequent changes to packaging design meant that these tools were often discarded long before the end of their useful life. Simply retaining the same designs for longer generated a big cut in both costs and carbon emissions.

The third piece of the puzzle involves developing organizational structures, resources, and capabilities to support DfS efforts across the whole R&D function (Exhibit 5). One common concern expressed by R&D leaders is that they struggle to execute the potential sustainability improvements that they identify. Engineers typically lack the tools to assess and prioritize different ideas or the knowledge to incorporate them into a product.

Exhibit 5

To overcome these stumbling blocks, many companies find it useful to establish a focal point for their effortseither a center of excellence that supports the sustainability program across the function or dedicated sustainability champions working within business units. The center of excellence takes responsibility for the introduction of new tools, such as resource cleansheets, and for acquiring and maintaining the data needed to support effective decision making on sustainability topics. It will also work with leaders in the wider R&D function to build sustainability into the organizations formal R&D processes.

To help R&D staff use the new tools and processes effectively, companies will likely need to invest in capability building, from introductions to sustainability topics for senior managers to in-depth training on life-cycle analysis and resource cleansheeting for design and engineering personnel.

Finally, organizations need to track the progress of the sustainability efforts and embed them into their R&D performance-management systems. That calls for changes to metrics, targets, and incentive systems, all aligned with the sustainability goals of the wider business.

The transition to a sustainable economy requires products that are designed differently, made differently, and used differently. The teams designing those products will need to be set up differently too. Leading organizations are already beginning that transformation, raising the maturity level of their R&D functions with new skills, processes, tools, and mindsets.

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Product sustainability: Back to the drawing board - McKinsey

NEW YORK, Feb. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dark Pulse, Inc. (OTC Markets: DPLS) (DarkPulse or the Company), a technology company focused on the manufacture, sale, installation, and monitoring of laser sensing systems based on its patented BOTDA dark-pulse sensor technology (the DarkPulse Technology) which provides a data stream of critical metrics for assessing the health and security of infrastructure, announces a key partnership with The Everglades Foundation. The Everglades Foundation works to protect and restore Americas Everglades through science, advocacy, and education and envisions an Everglades with abundant freshwater for consumption, enjoyment, ecological health, and economic growth for generations to come.

The Everglades Foundation is doing critical work not only for Florida but for our entire ecosystem, they are driven by science and passion, stated DarkPulse Chairman and CEO Dennis OLeary. We all should be concerned about the condition of the Everglades, and DarkPulse is proud to join the Foundation in the restoration of these irreplaceable wetlands.

For most of history, that massive rain-fed series of wetlands, lakes, and rivers we call the Everglades flowed from just below Orlando and through Lake Okeechobee south to the tip of the Florida peninsula, as well as east and west towards the coasts. More than a centurys worth of extensive urban and agricultural development has not only reduced the wetlands size in half, but fertilizer from upstream agricultural areas has polluted the water, degraded the ecosystem and harmed wildlife in the remaining Everglades.

Nutrient pollution, displaced species, urban and agricultural development, and rising sea levels all threaten ecosystem balance as the Everglades are starved for freshwater. DarkPulse will deploy technology into environmentally sensitive areas including dam and levy monitoring for the Everglades critical watershed areas and provide natural resource management planning, impact evaluation, habitat analysis, and monitoring.

We are honored to welcome Mr. Dennis OLeary and the DarkPulse family into The Everglades Foundations Chairmans Advisory Council, said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of The Everglades Foundation. Organizations like DarkPulse who share our belief in a sustainable Everglades are critical to our success, and we are grateful for their shared passion and support for the future of this vital ecosystem.

About the Everglades Foundation

The Everglades Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to restoring and protecting the greater Everglades ecosystem through science, advocacy, and education. Since its founding in 1993 by a group of local outdoor enthusiasts, The Everglades Foundation has become a respected and important advocate for the sustainability of one of the worlds most unique ecosystems. For more information, please visit EvergladesFoundation.org.

About DarkPulse , Inc.

DarkPulse, Inc. uses advanced laser-based monitoring systems to provide rapid and accurate monitoring of temperatures, strains and stresses. The Companys technology excels when applied to live, dynamic critical infrastructure and structural monitoring, including pipeline monitoring, perimeter and structural surveillance, aircraft structural components and mining safety. The Company's fiber-based monitoring systems can assist markets that are not currently served, and its unique technology covers extended areas and any event that is translated into the detection of a change in strain or temperature. In addition to the Companys ongoing efforts with respect to the marketing and sales of its technology products and services to its customers, the Company also continues to explore potential strategic alliances through joint venture and licensing opportunities to further expand its global market position.

For more information, visit http://www.DarkPulse.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this news release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our ability to successfully market our products and services; the acceptance of our products and services by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for our products and services; the amount and nature of competition from other security and telecom products and services; the effects of changes in the cybersecurity and telecom markets; our ability to successfully develop new products and services; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; our ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in our prior filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Media contact:

DarkPulse, Inc.

doleary@DarkPulse.com

1.800.436.1436

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DarkPulse, Inc. Announces Partnership with the Everglades - GlobeNewswire

Most of us forget about our waste once it is discarded into dustbins or municipal garbage trucks. Municipalities and waste management companies are only at the tip of an iceberg the formal waste sector funded, regulated and managed by local governments. This sector is involved with all kinds of waste: organic, inorganic, domestic, hazardous, horticultural refuse, and construction debris, among others. They are responsible for the collection, transport, recycling, and the appropriate disposal of waste which they often execute directly or via an external vendor.

Ideally, the segregation of waste into recyclables and non-recyclables should be done at source by the households, residential areas, or business centres that generate waste. Paper, metal, and glass have long been salvaged as they have good potential for recycling. Plastic is the new material that needs immediate attention. While polyethylene terephthalate or PET has a fair recycling value with the plastic-to-textile industry creating high demand, other commonly used plastics have little to no value and are often discarded. Hence, this plastic often reaches landfills, where it is incinerated or buried. Many chemical additives from these plastics leach into the soil and the surrounding ecosystems, often finding their way into rivers and marine ecosystems.

In much of the developing world, as in India, recovering recyclable waste between source and landfill is expensive, tedious and labour-intensive. This gap in the waste ecosystem is filled by the informal sector. This informal sector is a near-invisible, shadowy waste economy that we rarely acknowledge or appreciate, because it falls outside the purview of the formal system.

The informal sector, often concerned with inorganic waste, has many players. Waste pickers collect and segregate recyclable waste from residential areas, and are incentivised by the chance to earn a livelihood from it. They then sell the waste to small scrap dealers or kabadiwallas. The scrap dealers further segregate the waste and sell it to a (Level 2) small or medium aggregator. From here, it is carted off to a wholesaler or stockist, and finally, to specific recycling units.

In India, many national policies have recognised the role of the informal sector, mainly waste pickers, and have expressed value in their inclusion in the waste ecosystem. Yet waste pickers face other challenges while operating within the formal waste economy: outsourcing of waste management to private companies, waste-to-energy plants touted as alternatives to recycling, and urban zoning plans that do not factor in the infrastructure requirements of waste management. Importantly, waste pickers at the frontline of the informal sector work in challenging, often unsanitary conditions that affect their health. They also face uncertainty due to fluctuating market prices of recyclables.

Over the decade, grassroots organisations around the country have been working with waste pickers, in a bid to integrate them into the waste economy. Among these are Kabadiwalla Connect (Chennai), Hasiru Dala (Bengaluru), and Chintan (Delhi) that have emerged as waste management solutions and there are a few lessons that can be learnt from them.

Every year, Chennai generates over 1,30,000 tonnes of waste, of which plastic accounts for 10-15,000 tonnes. It is a huge challenge for the municipality to implement waste segregation at source. Hence, most of the waste, including 10-15% of which can be recycled, ends up in landfills. City authorities spend $200,000 (approximately Rs. 15 million) every day to collect the waste and transport it to the Pallikaranai and Kodungaiyur landfills, states Siddharth Hande, CEO of Kabadiwalla Connect, a Chennai-based initiative for decentralised waste management.

If cities across India are keen on optimising their resource recovery and recycling in the future and finding solutions to plug the leak of plastics into our oceans, integrating the formal and informal waste sectors will be crucial, adds Hande.

Hande also shares that the informal waste system helps Chennai collect roughly 20% of its recyclable waste, over 100,000 tonnes annually. By linking networks of waste pickers and scrap shop owners, he says he believes that almost 70% of the waste being sent to landfills could be diverted.

Kabadiwalla Connect helps leverage the citys existing informal waste infrastructure in the collection, segregation and processing of post-consumer waste, with the help of innovative, technology-based solutions. Its inclusive, cost-efficient, and industry-compliant solutions harness the untapped resource of the informal sector in the supply chain, reduce the health risks faced by waste pickers, and pay rich dividends while tackling plastic waste at urban, and semi-urban levels.

In the informal sector, we rarely talk of the stakeholders beyond waste pickers. Yet there is a nexus of scrap dealers or kabadiwallas, aggregators, wholesalers and recyclers, that are an essential part of the waste ecosystem. This lack of classification is key to the problem of integrating the formal and informal sectors, explains Hande.The involvement of upstream stakeholders of the value chain, such as plastic manufacturers and retailers is needed to bring about an integration of the waste ecosystem.

In Bengaluru, the informal waste ecosystem is much the same the door-to-door collection of waste is done by the municipality, or waste pickers, and is deposited at dry waste collection centres, where it is sorted for recycling. Paper, metal, glass, cloth, and plastics are usually recovered, with plastics like tetra packs, which are technically recyclable but have a poor market value, sent off to waste-to-energy plants or as fuel for cement kilns.

Since 2011, Hasiru Dala has been working to bridge the gap between waste workers and other stakeholders, such as the local governments, policymakers, and citizens, while improving the lives and livelihoods of waste pickers. Bengaluru with over 35,000 waste pickers and itinerant buyers, has approximately 3,500 tonnes of plastic traded in the informal economy every single day rescuing it from landfills, incineration sites and water networks. In 2021, Hasiru Dala actively worked with over 40 wards in the city, and their dry waste collection centres handled a total of 13,656 metric tonnes (T) of waste, of which 4,097 T was recyclable, and 9,559 T was non-recyclable waste.

Often plastics that can be recycled, such as food containers, arent washed properly, and hence, have to be discarded. Working with residents and encouraging them to put in the effort to clean food-related waste, often discarded improperly due to convenience, is essential, says Rohini Malur, Communications Manager at Hasiru Dala. Putting the onus of cleaning and segregation on households reaps benefits further up the waste ecosystem, as lesser waste, especially plastic, ends up at the highly polluting waste-to-energy plants, she continues.

The pandemic adversely affected the entire informal waste ecosystem, and as single-use plastic consumption soared, recovery and recycling couldnt keep pace. Waste pickers are essentially daily wage workers, and restricted mobility affects their ability to collect recyclables and earn a livelihood. With waste pickers clocking fewer hours, there was lesser income for scrap shops too. There were months during the first wave when the entire recycling industry shut down. Dry waste collection centres were deemed essential services, yet scrap shops and godowns were not, and had to close down. Collection centres stayed open during the lockdowns yet they had nowhere to send the aggregated waste, causing the waste economy to stagnate. Workers struggled to get by as they could collect but not sell the recovered recyclable waste, payments from the authorities were often in arrears and they had little to no savings to fall back on.

It is crucial for grassroots organisations to amplify the messages of other efforts across India if we are to see a bigger shift in our waste management practises and to realise how vulnerable and essential these waste warriors are, Malur adds.

Every day, Delhi produces 12,350 tonnes of solid waste, most of which ends up at three major dumpsites: Ghazipur, Bhalaswa, and Okhla. The city has an estimated 40,000 waste pickers, with other recyclers, itinerant buyers, small and large kabadis, re-processors and other waste workers adding to a total of a 1,50,000 strong informal sector. They collect 15-20 per cent of Delhis total waste (in terms of weight) and 55% (in terms of volume) and recycle about 2,000 tonnes of the citys waste each day. As in other cities, much of this recycling happens due to the toil of waste pickers.

In addition, as unsegregated waste accumulates at landfills, rotting wet waste releases methane a highly combustible gas. This results in spontaneous combustion of waste, with plastics, among other hazardous, polluting materials being set on fire. Sometimes, waste is incinerated at landfills before being buried. This adds significantly to Delhis air pollution issues. Waste pickers can help Delhi tackle some of its air pollution problems by diverting waste from reaching dumping sites.

As a partner of the CounterMEASURE initiative under the United Nations Environment Programme, funded by Japan, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group (Chintan) strives for better waste recovery between source and landfills. Their work with waste pickers ensures lesser plastics end up in the Yamuna, and further downstream into the Ganges, and the Bay of Bengal. In 2018, Chintans report titled Wastepickers: Delhis Forgotten Environmentalists, highlighted the role of the informal sector in tackling the burgeoning problem of waste management and plastic pollution.

Ironically, Delhis Master Plan 2041 talks in detail about solid waste management and environmental pollution, yet doesnt make provisions for the labour involved, nor for the space and infrastructure they require, says Shruti Sinha, Manager of Policy and Outreach at Chintan. Recently, many dhalaos (large three-walled concrete structures used by waste pickers to collect garbage from a locality or market), have been put to alternate use. A study by Chintan in 2021 found that 73.8% of waste pickers do not have access to sheltered spaces, which makes it difficult to work through monsoon and winter, Sinha continues.

The Chintan report advocates establishing partnerships between the informal and private sectors, as well as the public, legitimising the informal workers, developing waste management protocols, and training and monitoring waste workers. This would ensure they can operate effectively in their niche while performing key environmental roles.

The CounterMEASURE initiatives are committed to identifying sources and pathways of plastic pollution and finding solutions to prevent city-sourced plastic from reaching rivers and oceans. Working at the grassroots level with stakeholders in the waste economy, is an effective way to raise awareness about source segregation to reduce mismanaged waste, as well as build on existing knowledge to inform policy decisions.

The 2021 report titled Waste-Wise Cities published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Niti Aayog, inspected solid waste management initiatives in 28 cities to understand the mechanisms that worked best. Across cities, grassroots initiatives concur that the integration of the informal and the formal sector is an effective solution for waste management. The report found that decentralised systems and public-private partnerships would be ideal for India to achieve its smart cities objectives.

City planners and municipal organisations should take cognisance and find ways to integrate the waste ecosystem. This would not only ensure better living and working standards for the informal sector but also incentivise their role in last-mile resource recovery and recycling, while providing cities with a decentralised, cost-efficient blueprint for waste management.

Read more: [Explainer] The cost of plastic waste

Banner image: Kabadiwallas are among many players in the informal sector a near-invisible, shadowy waste economy that we rarely acknowledge or appreciate. Photo by Bijay Chaurasia/Wikimedia Commons.

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PlastiCities: the role of grassroots initiatives in managing waste in cities - Mongabay-India