Smile Foundation and PepsiCo India are working towards contributing to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan through their ‘Waste No More’ initiative. The aim of the campaign is to make the student community across the country be more sensitized towards the environment. It will also encourage them to participate in the drive to ensure communities understand the concept of ‘Jo swachh hai, wo swasth hai’ through the various competitions we have organised.
Why ‘Waste No More’
Finding new ways to adapt to the pandemic has become a way of life for all of us. Among the affected groups, students are among the most vulnerable. With constant disruptions in their education, holistic development of students is getting hampered. With the primary focus being on theoretical education, online as well as offline, students do not have much opportunity to get their creative thoughts flowing.
However, it is now more important than ever that children engage in creative and awareness activities. After all, they are the leaders of the future! Thus, we have started our initiative to create awareness around plastic waste management.
Our reach and the participants
Counting on our large network of private, aided, and government schools, our outreach includes 2 lakh children from 200 schools across 50 cities. More than 3000 entries are expected for the various competitions. Our initiative will mark the importance of Rashtriya Swachhata Diwas.
There will be multiple activities that children can participate in. All children will apply by entering one of the following three categories. Private schools, government schools, as well as Mission Education centres will participate in the initiative. The states covered include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
‘Waste No More’ Activities
The campaign will see students, teachers, and partner NGOs participating in a number of awareness-building activities around the importance of waste management. The competitions range across a number of formats.
Best Out of Waste
Students will use old waste materials to create something new and make a timelapse video of the same.
My Canvas
Students can paint on one of the following themes:
- Protect our ocean
- Reusing plastic products
- Swachhta aur Swasthya–ek mazbut kadi
Essay Writing
Participants can choose one of the following topics to write a 500-1000 word essay:
- How can I be a Swachh Bharat Sevak and ensure plastic waste management in India;
- Ways of recycling and reusing plastic products
- Swachhta aur Swasthya–ek mazbut kadi
Meri Kahaani
Children can make short videos on importance of plastic waste management.
Kahaani Plastic Ki
This is a competition is specially for NGO-run schools. They can make a video about a ‘swachhta’ or plastic waste management activity they have carried out in the past one year.
Apart from this, there will also be a plantation drive by NGOs where they will recycle and reuse plastic waste.
Entries can be submitted till 30 September 2021. All the entries have to be submitted digitally.
