Holistic Waste Management
We co-create decentralised, community-led systems to manage waste at scale, from households and markets
to municipalities and blocks.
- Community Waste Management
- Institutional Waste Management
Green Mile Project
About the Project
The Green Mile Project is a community-driven initiative to transform a 2-kilometre stretch of NH-110 in Sonada, Darjeeling from a dumping corridor into a living example of a Zero Waste Zone. Through compost pits, home segregation, monthly clean-ups, youth engagement, and public art, the project has enabled three surrounding villages – Rajahatta, Naya Busty to become Zero Waste Villages. It serves as a model for how citizen action can reclaim public spaces and restore dignity to everyday waste systems in the hills.
We support:
- Home and community composting through mul-batta systems, khambas, and DIY training
- Door-to-door awareness and waste separation initiatives
- Behavioural nudges through art, signage, and community design
- Zero waste interventions at events, markets, and streetscapes
- Waste audits and feedback loops with residents
- Ongoing mentorship to build local stewardship
Our Zero Waste Village Framework has been successfully implemented in Rajahatta, Naya Busty, and 12 Mile and serves as a framework to be replicated across Himlayan villages.
Why This Matters
Top-down waste systems in the hills are failing. They are neither context-specific nor rooted in community participation. This leads to burning, dumping, and distrust.
The Green Mile Project showed us what’s possible: from a dumpyard to a composting corridor. Now, we replicate this across rural and urban spaces, with villages as the testing grounds and towns like Sonada as the next frontier. By designing from the ground up — and composting at the source — we build systems that last.
This is the impact of the GMP:
Impact
Tonnes delivered in 3 years
Onboarded
Zero Waste Villages Model
Gallery
Sonada Zero Waste Households
About the Project
This pilot initiative helps households transition into zero waste systems through door-to-door support. Families are guided on composting, segregation, dry waste collection, and ritual waste reduction, tailored to their specific needs.
Why This Matters
Municipal systems rarely reach interior hamlets and hillside homes. Yet, most waste is generated and managed at the household level. This project shows how decentralised, hyperlocal systems can fill those gaps with dignity and efficiency.
Gallery
Zero Waste Events
About the Project
From marathons to weddings, school celebrations to national conferences, we design zero waste systems that leave no trace. Our approach includes event-specific waste audits, pre-planning with organisers and vendors, signage, compost units, reusable crockery, volunteer training, and post-event waste analysis reports.
Why This Matters
Events generate an enormous amount of single-use waste in just a few hours. Plastic plates, flex banners, PET bottles, disposable packaging, all of it ends up in nearby fields, drains, or forests. Whether in a city stadium or a hillside school ground, the day after an event often looks like a landfill.
We believe it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right systems in place, celebrations can be joyful and responsible. Our Zero Waste Events project brings behavioural change into festive moments, so people don’t just enjoy the day, they also carry a sense of ownership and care.
Our work includes:
- Designing India’s first Zero Waste DCRC in Alipurduar for the 2024 parliamentary elections
- Supporting local weddings with reusable systems
- Hosting Bun Bhaat, a community forest picnic at the TIEEDI Forest Garden
- Running stalls and cleanups at regional marathons
We turn event spaces into living examples of sustainability, where joy doesn’t leave behind junk.
Gallery
Government Partnerships
About the Project
We work directly with government departments and local bodies to implement sustainable waste systems, from landfill assessments to policy inputs, training, and monitoring.
Why This Matters
As an organisation, our strength lies in creating successful models. But true scale will only be possible through public infrastructure, policy-level support, and state partnerships. We have cracked the “how to do it” – what we now need is the capacity to do it across the region. Government collaboration brings that opportunity. When paired with contextual models, it can create win-win systems that serve both communities and ecosystems.
Examples:
- Takdah Block (Darjeeling): Panchayat training, composting infrastructure, and SHG mobilisation
- Nalgonda District (Telangana): CALP partnership and decentralised waste planning
- Alipurduar (West Bengal): India’s first Zero Waste DCRC for 2024 parliamentary elections
- Sikkim State Government: Training of senior officials on decentralised waste systems
Gallery
Formalizing Waste Workers
About the Project
This project aims to bring dignity, visibility, and inclusion to informal waste workers — the invisible backbone of waste systems in the hills. In partnership with Tetra Pak India and Amul, we have established a decentralized beverage carton collection system that values materials previously ignored by waste workers.
Through this, we work with waste workers to:
- Conduct field-level enumeration and mapping
- Provide official ID cards and support to access government schemes like NAMASTE
- Train them on health, safety, and financial literacy
- Build awareness on categories like used beverage cartons, often overlooked due to lack of value
Why This Matters
In the hills, where formal systems are minimal, waste is largely managed by informal workers – often elderly, women, or migrants – with little protection or recognition. They are excluded from planning, deprived of benefits, and left to segregate trash without dignity.
This project shifts that. It values their labour. It brings cartons out of the waste stream and into a circular economy. And most importantly, it shows that decentralised waste systems can only succeed when built with those who already hold the system together.
Working with existing networks of informal workers is not a charity move. It is a necessity – for scale, for justice, and for real transition
Gallery
Zero Waste Businesses
About the Project
We help cafés, home stays, stores, and forest retreats design their own zero waste systems – from source segregation to sourcing alternatives, signage, and staff training.
Why This Matters
Tourism in the hills is growing rapidly. And so is the pressure on local ecosystems, with single-use packaging, disposable plates, and synthetic habits becoming the norm. Many businesses cater to the demands of tourists from the plains who bring consumption patterns that the hills cannot sustain.
Meanwhile, the social fabric is fraying. People are losing touch with the seasons, the soil, and the systems that once made hill life circular. Our work with zero waste businesses aims to bridge this gap. We support enterprises to be profitable and mindful, so that they can foster a space that fosters good behaviour.
When a visitor stays at TIEEDI Forest Stay or eats at Timboor on the Trail, they don’t just consume. They participate. They sort their waste, use reusables, eat local, and carry back a deeper understanding of what it means to live in harmony with nature. Many return to us saying it changed how they shop, cook, and discard even back home.
We need more such spaces – not as exceptions, but as the new normal.
Gallery
Experiential Environment Education
“We engage youth, communities, and educators through immersive learning experiences rooted in zero waste values and ecological restoration.”
- Community Waste Management
- Institutional Waste Management
- Green Mile Project
- Sonada Zero Waste Households
- Zero Waste Events
Green Mile Project
About the Project
The Green Mile Project is a community-driven initiative to transform a 2-kilometre stretch of NH-110 in Sonada, Darjeeling from a dumping corridor into a living example of a Zero Waste Zone. Through compost pits, home segregation, monthly clean-ups, youth engagement, and public art, the project has enabled three surrounding villages – Rajahatta, Naya Busty to become Zero Waste Villages. It serves as a model for how citizen action can reclaim public spaces and restore dignity to everyday waste systems in the hills.
We support:
- Home and community composting through mul-batta systems, khambas, and DIY training
- Door-to-door awareness and waste separation initiatives
- Behavioural nudges through art, signage, and community design
- Zero waste interventions at events, markets, and streetscapes
- Waste audits and feedback loops with residents
- Ongoing mentorship to build local stewardship
Our Zero Waste Village Framework has been successfully implemented in Rajahatta, Naya Busty, and 12 Mile and serves as a framework to be replicated across Himlayan villages.
Why This Matters
Top-down waste systems in the hills are failing. They are neither context-specific nor rooted in community participation. This leads to burning, dumping, and distrust.
The Green Mile Project showed us what’s possible: from a dumpyard to a composting corridor. Now, we replicate this across rural and urban spaces, with villages as the testing grounds and towns like Sonada as the next frontier. By designing from the ground up — and composting at the source — we build systems that last.
This is the impact of the GMP:
Impact
Tonnes delivered in 3 years
Onboarded
Zero Waste Villages Model
Gallery
Sonada Zero Waste Households
About the Project
This pilot initiative helps households transition into zero waste systems through door-to-door support. Families are guided on composting, segregation, dry waste collection, and ritual waste reduction, tailored to their specific needs.
Why This Matters
Municipal systems rarely reach interior hamlets and hillside homes. Yet, most waste is generated and managed at the household level. This project shows how decentralised, hyperlocal systems can fill those gaps with dignity and efficiency.
Gallery
Zero Waste Events
About the Project
From marathons to weddings, school celebrations to national conferences, we design zero waste systems that leave no trace. Our approach includes event-specific waste audits, pre-planning with organisers and vendors, signage, compost units, reusable crockery, volunteer training, and post-event waste analysis reports.
Why This Matters
Events generate an enormous amount of single-use waste in just a few hours. Plastic plates, flex banners, PET bottles, disposable packaging, all of it ends up in nearby fields, drains, or forests. Whether in a city stadium or a hillside school ground, the day after an event often looks like a landfill.
We believe it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right systems in place, celebrations can be joyful and responsible. Our Zero Waste Events project brings behavioural change into festive moments, so people don’t just enjoy the day, they also carry a sense of ownership and care.
Our work includes:
- Designing India’s first Zero Waste DCRC in Alipurduar for the 2024 parliamentary elections
- Supporting local weddings with reusable systems
- Hosting Bun Bhaat, a community forest picnic at the TIEEDI Forest Garden
- Running stalls and cleanups at regional marathons
We turn event spaces into living examples of sustainability, where joy doesn’t leave behind junk.
Gallery
- Government Partnerships
- Formalizing Waste Workers
- Zero Waste Events
Government Partnerships
About the Project
We work directly with government departments and local bodies to implement sustainable waste systems, from landfill assessments to policy inputs, training, and monitoring.
Why This Matters
As an organisation, our strength lies in creating successful models. But true scale will only be possible through public infrastructure, policy-level support, and state partnerships. We have cracked the “how to do it” – what we now need is the capacity to do it across the region. Government collaboration brings that opportunity. When paired with contextual models, it can create win-win systems that serve both communities and ecosystems.
Examples:
- Takdah Block (Darjeeling): Panchayat training, composting infrastructure, and SHG mobilisation
- Nalgonda District (Telangana): CALP partnership and decentralised waste planning
- Alipurduar (West Bengal): India’s first Zero Waste DCRC for 2024 parliamentary elections
- Sikkim State Government: Training of senior officials on decentralised waste systems
Gallery
Formalizing Waste Workers
About the Project
This project aims to bring dignity, visibility, and inclusion to informal waste workers — the invisible backbone of waste systems in the hills. In partnership with Tetra Pak India and Amul, we have established a decentralized beverage carton collection system that values materials previously ignored by waste workers.
Through this, we work with waste workers to:
- Conduct field-level enumeration and mapping
- Provide official ID cards and support to access government schemes like NAMASTE
- Train them on health, safety, and financial literacy
- Build awareness on categories like used beverage cartons, often overlooked due to lack of value
Why This Matters
In the hills, where formal systems are minimal, waste is largely managed by informal workers – often elderly, women, or migrants – with little protection or recognition. They are excluded from planning, deprived of benefits, and left to segregate trash without dignity.
This project shifts that. It values their labour. It brings cartons out of the waste stream and into a circular economy. And most importantly, it shows that decentralised waste systems can only succeed when built with those who already hold the system together.
Working with existing networks of informal workers is not a charity move. It is a necessity – for scale, for justice, and for real transition
Gallery
Zero Waste Businesses
About the Project
We help cafés, home stays, stores, and forest retreats design their own zero waste systems – from source segregation to sourcing alternatives, signage, and staff training.
Why This Matters
Tourism in the hills is growing rapidly. And so is the pressure on local ecosystems, with single-use packaging, disposable plates, and synthetic habits becoming the norm. Many businesses cater to the demands of tourists from the plains who bring consumption patterns that the hills cannot sustain.
Meanwhile, the social fabric is fraying. People are losing touch with the seasons, the soil, and the systems that once made hill life circular. Our work with zero waste businesses aims to bridge this gap. We support enterprises to be profitable and mindful, so that they can foster a space that fosters good behaviour.
When a visitor stays at TIEEDI Forest Stay or eats at Timboor on the Trail, they don’t just consume. They participate. They sort their waste, use reusables, eat local, and carry back a deeper understanding of what it means to live in harmony with nature. Many return to us saying it changed how they shop, cook, and discard even back home.
We need more such spaces – not as exceptions, but as the new normal.
Gallery