The growing environmental concerns have led to setting of sustainable development goals that were not thinkable before. Each day 8 million tonnes of plastic are disposed into the oceans and the planet continues to drown in plastic pollution. To avoid the gloomy future that lurks in the corners of our daily lives, Enactus Ramjas decided to bring a revolutionary change to replace this necessary evil forever: Project Khwab- a dream for a better planet.
Project Khwab aims to create a range of sustainable products for personal care, thus preventing tonnes of plastic from going into landfills and oceans and substantially reducing non-biodegradable waste. Plastic is used in our day to day lives, to eliminate the problem completely it is imperative to bring small changes in our daily habits.
With this vision, Enactus Ramjas’ products have been designed to be zero waste alternatives to everyday essentials like shampoo, deodorants, toothpaste, soaps, brushes, etc.
Their products strive to solve is the issue of propelling plastic waste that expands due to increased single use plastic packaging in which 95% of the value of packaging material is lost entirely which is worth $80-120 billion annually. More than 2.2 million shampoo bottles could end up in landfills every year and Project Khwab works to prevent this through their eco-friendly, sustainable product base of organic cosmetic products.
Their vision is to replace the plastic containers that carry our daily essentials by making products that contain natural ingredients and packaged in eco-friendly materials. They strive to inculcate the feeling of environmentally conscious consumption.
Project Khwab also aims to create social value by creating employment opportunities for individuals who are especially abled and transgenders. With 11 beneficiaries already onboard, they have formulated training curriculum at is easy to grasp and replicate, conduct virtual training of beneficiaries through simple and interactive modules. Khwab also teaches them the basics of entrepreneurship and finances. A significant proportion of the revenue goes to them, thus ensuring substantial levels of income for the community.
Enactus Ramjas has been pro-actively working on a circular economy value chain which redirects and repurposes the plastic waste into paper. As the Government bans single use plastic for all states from July, they decided to fasten the process of relieving our environment from plastic.
The plastic waste is collected and segregated by rag pickers who are incentivized. They are sorted as per color, type, and thickness. The collected plastic waste is redirected to 2 channels: – For recycling into paper- Plastic collecting and recycling organizations which then recycles the same into other utility products. Through this avenue employment is generated for the ragpickers and plastic waste is recycled into utility products.
“Project khwab aims to work for the change the world wants to see, we hope to endow our initiative with sufficient measures so that we are able to make a powerful impact.” – Team Enactus Ramjas
The Author, Krisha Kapur, is an Economics Student at Delhi University and member of Enactus Ramjas, an international non-profit organization.
