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0 Every day in India, thousands of tons of waste end up in landfills, rivers, and oceans. While positive steps are being taken towards developing waste management solutions, a lot more needs to be done when it comes to collective citizen action. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) has launched a campaign that looks to inspire individuals to segregate household waste at source and ensure that waste stays out of the environment and in the circular economy.
The ‘#BinBoy’ campaign through its child protagonist ‘Appu,’ aims to drive behaviour change among citizens and urge them to segregate waste at homes and residential societies. Through an engaging narrative and thought-provoking dialogue, the campaign draws attention to the seriousness of mixed waste disposal and the need for immediate action.
The film shows Appu – protesting uniquely. He is seen sitting on an unsorted heap of waste in a household dustbin refusing to get out. This action surprises Appu’s parents, neighbours, and the community at large. After repeated questioning, Appu says – if you do not sort your waste into wet and dry at home, you are putting my future into the trash bin. This comment startles everyone around and inspires Appu’s parents to separate their waste.
Watch the #Binboy campaign film below.
Speaking on the campaign Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever Ltd says, “The need for urgent action on the issue of waste segregation has never been greater. At HUL, we recognize our role in this context and have been working with leading agencies in the space and the Government to drive what is a simple, positive action that each of us could do. We work towards empowering communities to reach the goal of swachhata and a zero-waste circular economy. Children are the strongest advocates of change in society and are also the strongest drivers. We believe that our latest campaign #Binboy, with a child protagonist will inspire and unite citizens to create a waste-free, greener tomorrow’’
Waste management is a collective responsibility, and each stakeholder needs to play an active role in creating a better future for our people and the planet.
HUL has achieved 100% plastic waste collection. The Company has facilitated environmentally safe disposal of more than 1.1 lakh tons of post-consumer-use plastic waste covering over 160 locations including large towns, small cities & gram panchayats through their collection partners which include Saahas Zero Waste, Dalmia Polypro, ReCircle, Recykal, Green Worms, Ramky, Paperman.
HUL has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for end-to-end waste management projects in Mumbai, right from collection to segregation and recycling, including behaviour change.
HUL with UNDP has positively impacted more than 85,000 households across four wards of Mumbai through a plastic waste material recovery model and the set-up of waste recovery centres. Further, HUL also aims to uplift the lives of more than 3000 waste-pickers (safaai saathis) and their families with better access to the government’s social protection schemes covering – food, health, safety, security, and financial inclusion through Project Utthan.
HUL has also developed a behaviour change curriculum for children and communities, the digital ‘Waste No More’ curriculum, with Xynteo has reached out to more than 3 lakh students.