I’m really happy and excited to run at TMM 2024 as a fund-raiser for Project Amhi, an NGO working on solid waste management in Raigad district.

 Amhi’s work is both vital and inspiring. Solid waste management in semi-rural and rural areas across the country is a major challenge and is largely neglected. Plastics, particularly the disposable variety, pose a serious threat to our eco-system and our community spaces. Waste in the form of plastics, clothes, footwear, paper, etc collects along roads, on beaches and other public spaces or is accumulated in open dumps. Once it reaches unmanageable levels, it is burnt, thereby releasing dangerous pollutants into the air. 

 With the help of locally employed women, Amhi picks up the waste from public spaces across 10 villages - an area of about 36 sq. km. The waste is then sorted into different categories, and what can be salvaged is sent to processors for recycling. In this manner Amhi removes over 10 tons of waste from the eco-system every month.