Who We Are
The Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) is a collective of SWM practitioners working on promoting decentralised sustainable waste management and inclusive livelihoods.
Our Vision
To reimagine waste as a resource.
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Our Mission
To steer the transition into a low-waste world powered by the circular economy principles, decentralised and sustainable waste management practices by connecting with communities, industry, institutions, governments, formal and informal waste workers through the promotion of replicable and inclusive models for improved health, environment and dignity to livelihoods.
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Awards
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2014 - 2015 The Karnataka State Environment Awards - 2015 issued by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The award was given to organisations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to environmental protection​
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2013 - 2014 Rotary NGO Award for Excellence as Social Change Maker - 2013-14​
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2011 - 2012 Namma Bengaluru Award 2011 for the best Community-based Organisation in 2011-12
Journey
2009 to 2018 - SWMRT 1.0: SWMRT was launched as a citizen volunteer-led initiative in October 2009, and was supported by the Anonymous Indian Charitable Trust. (www.taict.org)
From 2018 - SWMRT 2.0: In 2018, SWMRT was registered as an independent, not-for-profit Trust.
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Since its inception, SWMRT has spearheaded several key community-based campaigns that have influenced significant policy decisions in Bengaluru, Karnataka and pan India.
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Advocacy for three-way waste segregation at source and decentralised waste management systems.
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Advocacy for the establishment of Dry Waste Collection Centres to retrieve dry waste at ward levels while promoting the inclusion of waste-pickers. This has now been recognised by Swachh Bharat as one of the best practices.
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Supported the campaign led by Hasiru Dala to include informal waste workers into Bangalore’s solid waste management systems.
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Co-promoted the 2Bin1Bag method of segregation that has been adopted by Karnataka and across states in the country.
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Launched the SwachaGraha campaign in Bangalore to nudge the citizens to take up a one-week challenge to compost, grow and cook. This has transformed itself into a multi-layered campaign.
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The BBMP embraced SWMRT’s Compost Santhe initiative to promote home composting in several wards during the pre-pandemic days.
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Swachagraha Kalika Kendra and Swachagraha Compost Connect were the natural spinoffs of the SwachaGraha campaign. This led to the setting up of India's first composting learning centre with a resounding success. The compost connect program was set up to connect the compost-producing communities with farmers to encourage them to take the biomass back to the soil.
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Partnered with citizens groups on the Karnataka Plastic Ban.
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Championed the ward-level microplan, Citizen Participation Programme (CPP).
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Supported the Sustainable Menstruation program.
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Supported the Trashonomics program for school children.
