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Project Sanjeevani — Koru Foundation
Koru Foundation Initiative

Project
Sanjeevani

Koru's Initiative

Sanjeevani — the life giver. Our planet is steadily moving towards environmental collapse, driven in large part by an unchecked tide of solid waste. We address this crisis through community-led action, youth engagement, and circular waste systems — building a cleaner, more dignified future one neighbourhood at a time.

50+
Tonnes of waste
diverted from landfill
9
Schools with active
Recycle Stations
25K+
Plastic bottles
removed in drives
98.2%
of India's waste
goes untreated
Sanjeevani community action
🖼Image 1 — Top wide
Recycle station
🖼Image 2 — Bottom left
🖼Image 3 — Bottom right
3R
Reduce · Reuse
Recycle

The Crisis

India's Waste Emergency
Is a Civilisational Problem

We are generating waste far faster than we can manage it. The consequences — for human health, for biodiversity, and for our climate — are compounding with every passing year.

01 🏭 Daily garbage production
India generates a staggering 1.43 lakh Thousand Metric Tons Per Day of solid waste — a figure that grows every year as urbanisation accelerates and consumption rises. This is not a future problem. It is happening right now, in every city and every village across the country.
02 ⚗️ Massive untreated waste
Shockingly, 98.2% of all waste generated in India goes untreated. It is dumped without any proper disposal method — in open lands, rivers, and urban peripheries — contaminating groundwater, degrading soil quality, and releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere.
03 🦅 Biodiversity at grave risk
Untreated waste does not stay where it is dumped. It enters waterways, forests, and wetlands — choking marine life, poisoning wildlife, and destroying the ecosystems that millions of species, including humans, depend upon. We have already lost countless species to plastic and chemical pollution.
04 🏗️ Lack of integrated infrastructure
India lacks an integrated, efficient waste management solution that works end-to-end. The existing infrastructure is fragmented, underfunded, and reactive — built to collect, not to process or eliminate. Without a circular system, collection alone only moves the problem elsewhere.
05 🤝 Stakeholder gaps & community apathy
Coordination failures between government bodies, waste management companies, and local communities leave the problem unaddressed at every level. Meanwhile, community indifference and rising consumption rates make sustainable practices increasingly urgent — and increasingly rare.
98.2%
of India's daily solid waste goes completely untreated — dumped without processing, without safety, and without dignity for the communities forced to live beside it. This is the scale of the emergency. This is why Project Sanjeevani exists.

The Framework

A City-Wide Zero Waste
System

Zero Waste Schools, Zero Waste Societies, and Zero Waste Offices are self-sufficient hubs of sustainability. With dedicated resources and engaged stakeholders, they serve as pillars of change within a city — collectively driving the journey towards a cleaner, greener future. Together, they form the building blocks of a city's sustainable transformation, demonstrating that every small step contributes to a more eco-conscious urban environment.

01
🔄
Behavioural Change
Shifting mindsets through education, awareness sessions, and community engagement — making zero-waste a lived value, not just a policy.
02
🏠
Zero Waste City
The collective vision — a city where every institution, every household, every individual participates in a complete circular economy of waste.
03
♻️
Circular Economy
Channelling recyclables to vendors, composting organics, and eliminating landfill dependence — closing the loop on urban waste completely.
Aligned with SBM 2.0 · UN Sustainable Development Goals · SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) · SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption)

Zero Waste Programmes

Where Change Happens

Zero Waste School
PET Bottles HDPE / LDPE Stationery Oil & Milk Packets Metal Cans E-Waste MLP Packaging
Education & Youth

Zero Waste
School & College

To build on our pilot programme, we have established Recycle Stations in nine schools and colleges — purpose-built collection points that divert recyclable materials before they ever reach the landfill. With the school's active support, students bring sorted waste on scheduled collection days. Our team visits bi-monthly to channelise the collected recyclables to their respective vendor networks.

The station handles six distinct waste categories: PET plastic bottles, other plastics (HDPE and LDPE), stationery items, oil and milk packets, multi-layer plastic (MLP), metal cans, and electronic waste. Each category has a dedicated bin and a clear disposal pathway — nothing is mixed, nothing is lost.

More profoundly, this is a behavioural change programme. It begins with enabling young minds to see themselves as responsible, aware citizens. We recognise that the youth who inherit this world are more likely to solve its problems than those who created them — and this conviction shapes every session we run. We have entered MoUs with Kerala Public School Kadma, Kerala Public School Gamharia, and Kerala Public School Mango.

9
Schools & colleges with active Recycle Stations
6
Waste categories channelled to vendor networks
3
MoUs signed with partner schools
Monthly collection visits to each institution
"Values can be instilled at a young age — and 13 years of schooling can make the youth ambassadors of Zero Waste Philosophy, who will not only spread the concept but walk the talk."

— Lakshmi Ravunniyarath, Director Academics, Kerala Public School
Zero Waste Society
Source Segregation Dry Waste Wet Waste Sanitary Waste 3R Framework Awareness Sessions
Community & Residential

Zero Waste
Society

We believe residential areas — societies, wards, and panchayats — are the second great pillar on which a Zero Waste City stands. These are the spaces where daily life happens, where habits are formed, and where the largest volume of household waste is generated. Working at this level allows us to implement and streamline sustainable waste management at the source.

Through this initiative, we promote source segregation, conduct awareness sessions on safe and hygienic handling of waste, and embed the 3R principles — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — into cooperative housing societies and localities. Our vision is a system where every home separates dry waste, wet waste, and sanitary waste at source — making proper disposal a best practice, not an afterthought.

When waste is sorted at the household level, its onward journey — to composters, recyclers, and authorised disposal facilities — becomes clean, efficient, and complete. This is how we envision a cleaner, greener urban environment: not through top-down mandates, but through community ownership.

50+
Tonnes of waste diverted from landfill
3R
Core framework: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Rising awareness in partner societies
0
Mixed waste sent from segregated households
"Zero waste society means clean environment, good air quality, green zone — the three most important living factors for a dense, growing population."

— Anoop Sinha, Secretary, Sahara Garden City
Frontline Dignity
Safety Systems Formalisation Dignified Work Complete Waste Cycle Community Recognition
Dignity & Safety

Dignity for
Frontline Workers

Behind every cleaner street and every diverted tonne of waste are frontline workers — sanitation workers, rag pickers, and waste handlers — who perform some of society's most essential labour in conditions that are often unsafe, unrecognised, and undignified. Project Sanjeevani holds a firm belief: a sustainable waste system cannot be built on their exploitation.

Through this strand of our work, we are building systems that bring dignity, safety, and formal recognition to the lives of waste workers. This includes integrating them into organised collection and segregation networks, ensuring they have the right equipment and protection, and advocating for their recognition as an indispensable part of India's environmental infrastructure.

When frontline workers are empowered, the entire cycle of waste management becomes more effective. Their knowledge of waste streams, local geography, and community behaviour is irreplaceable. Respecting that knowledge is not just an ethical imperative — it is a practical necessity for any city serious about achieving zero waste.

🛡️
Safety-first systems under development
🔗
Integrated into formal waste networks
Recognised as essential environmental workers
♾️
Completing the full circular waste cycle
"Through Project Sanjeevani, we intend to create a system that brings dignity and safety to the lives of frontline workers — and a complete cycle of effective waste management."
Cleaning Drives — Community in Action

Our community cleaning drives have removed staggering quantities of litter from India's natural spaces — rivers, forests, and public lands. Each drive builds not just a cleaner environment, but a more responsible community that takes pride in its surroundings.

25,000+
Plastic bottles removed
18,000+
Glass bottles cleared
20T+
Plastic & cloth diverted