Green Community Stories
Trash to Treasure by CHF
Trash to Treasure by CHF Since 2003, Cooperative Housing Foundation International’s (CHF) mission in India
has been to address urban poverty and transform lives in urban slum areas. Slums were identified as target
area because waste that was disposed off openly was the first noticeable factor in the neighbourhood. Dump
sites were common in slum areas. Therefore, CHF focused on improving waste management services, living
conditions of waste collectors and informal recyclers in Bengaluru slum communities.
Ini
tially, CHF’s work started in the form of a slum upgradation initiative, piloted in Rajendranagar in 2008 as
the neighbourhood is characterized by poor waste management services and sanitation. CHF set up a
Common Interest Group (CIG) to collect wastes directly from the households, and bring it to the waste
management facility centres for sorting in to plastics, paper, compost material and organic waste.
More
:
http://bit.ly/10R7b1c
India’s First and Unique Green Ashram in
Gujarat
The Muni Seva Ashram (MSA) or the Green Ashram as it is popularly known is unique in the way it has used
renewable energy technologies. The ashram is home to the world’s first and largest commercially executed
Solar Air Conditioning System and the
world’s first and only Solar Crematorium. The Ashram today relies
majorly on the Renewable Energy Technologies to meet its power requirement for High school, Air
Conditioning requirement for the state of art cancer hospital and for preparing meals using the renewable
energy systems deployed in the ashram premises.
More
:
http://bit.ly/MR6fCO
Pollinate Energy: Bringing Solar Solutions to Indian Slums
Pollinate Energy, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit, produces and sells low-cost solar lighting solutions to
members of slum communities throughout Bangalore. Their distribution model relies on converting local
community members into micro-
entrepreneurs, or what the organization calls “pollinators.” These pollinators
purchase lighting systems from Pollinate, and then sell them to families within their communities. The
innovative distribution model promotes impact on two levels, on one hand introducing communities to safe,
renewable energy alternatives to the expensive and dangerous kerosene lamps that many of them depend
on, and, on the other hand, giving select community members the opportunity to earn extra income through
the Pollinate system of micro-entrepreneurship.
