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Neeraj Dahiya felt unhappy at the sight of garbage that he observed all over the city whenever he used to travel. As a travel professional, he used to move around the city and he wanted to do something to address this problem.
He involved a group of his close friends and formed a non-profit organisation named Expeditions For Cause (EFC).
The sole aim of this organisation was to curb littering in Delhi-NCR and nearby areas.
Managing a new travel and tourism business along with this organisation was not an easy task for him.
More than that, convincing others to work on this cause was equally difficult. But Neeraj kept the initiative going and began cleanliness drives around the city.
After the 'Swachh Bharat' initiative, received media attention and public support, their group realized that they need to study more about this problem. They conducted an extensive survey of over 150 tier 1 and tier 2 cities to understand the root cause of the problem.
Through the survey, they found that the increasing materialistic tendencies in people have contributed to the growing plastic garbage found in our surroundings.
They started a campaign named 'Fenkiye Mat Sadak Par' (Don't throw garbage on the street).
This campaign came with the notion that most people wanted to dump garbage in the dustbins but the city sufficient garbage bins for waste disposal.
Through his organisation, he distributed over 3 million portable dustbin bags. Strategically, all these bins were placed in locations especially around markets. While the drives were conducted, the problem of the use of single-use plastic bags was noticeable among all residents.
This made him start a similar campaign through which he could utilise the waste fabric collected in donation drives.
Through this campaign, the waste fabric could be converted into cloth bags that could be later used by people. This campaign is still continuing and has also provided employment to women.
Another ongoing project of them with the objective of saving water in urban localities is called 'Half Tap'. For this, they put a nudge sticker behind the tap. It acts as a reminder for people to open the tap halfway and it will prevent water wastage that happens on a usual basis.
This story has been received from Giving Circle. It is a platform that connects social change makers, donors, and volunteers. They are working to scale up these initiatives.
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