Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) along with Zero Waste Himalaya (ZWH) organised the Himalayan Cleanup(THC) in 2018, a pan-Himalayan initiative, to raise awareness about waste in the Indian Himalayan Region. On May 26th 2018, 12 states, 200 organisations and more than 15000 volunteers gathered to conduct cleanups in various areas. The trash collected revealed that more than 60 percent was multilayered plastic waste and more than 95 percent was plastic.
The Himalayan Cleanup 2020 has been shortlisted for a grant by the European Conservation Outdoor Association (EOCA). It is the only project from India that has been selected. The project has entered the final voting round under the mountain category where all shortlisted projects are given two weeks to gather as many votes as possible in order to secure the grant. The voting window is now open and closes on 11th April.
The activities that shall be supported by the grant are –
- Workshop on waste with representatives of 12 mountain states and regions
- Training for peer educators in all 12 mountain states and regions across the Indian Himalayan region.
- Clean-up across the 12 mountain states and equipment for THC 2020
Integrated Mountain Initiative and Zero Waste Himalaya have representations from and chapters in all Northeastern states, which include academicians, legislators, institutions, non-state actors and several youth volunteers. More importantly, more than 250+ local organizations and institutions are involved as collaborators who attend workshopa, create peer educators and conduct cleanup and audits in their respective sites across the Northeast.
You can show support by voting. The steps are mentioned below:
- Please click here to go to the voting page.
- Select The Himalayan Cleanup (its right at the end, and nominated by the Grangers)
- Click the ‘vote now’ button located below the project description to cast your vote for us
- Click to prove ‘I am not a robot’ and follow instructions, once prompted.
- Click ‘I have read terms and conditions’
- Submit your vote. You can use other devices too and follow the same process.