About - A Zero-Waste Pune City

About Mission City Chakra

Turning Off the Tap on Waste

Mission City Chakra is a systems-focused initiative of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

Our core philosophy is simple:
Cities cannot solve the waste crisis by focusing on collection and disposal.
We must prevent waste at the source.

To achieve this, Mission City Chakra works with the Intermediate Policy Makers — school principals, administrators, institutions, and community leaders who directly shape daily behaviours across hundreds of families.

Rather than treating the symptoms of waste, we design and implement upstream policies that eliminate waste generation before it happens.

In two years, we have partnered with 600+ schools, engaged 3,00,000+ students, and enabled 130 schools to implement Phase I zero-waste norms. Our model is scalable, measurable, and replicable for cities across India.

From Waste Management to Waste Prevention

Upstream Solutions for Zero-Waste Cities

Why We Do What We Do

Urban India is drowning in waste despite decades of clean-up drives, awareness campaigns, and new processing facilities. Yet the waste keeps coming.
Why? Because:

70–80% of municipal solid waste budgets go into collection and transport, leaving little room for prevention.
Plastic and packaging have become deeply embedded in daily life.
Most interventions focus downstream, after the waste has already been created.

At Mission City Chakra, we shift the entire approach:
We turn off the tap instead of endlessly scooping from the overflowing bathtub.

Our programs are grounded in:

Systems thinking
Circular economy principles
Child health protection
Behavioural change science
Institution-level policy shifts

This is why our model works — and scales.

Our Approach: Simple Rules → Systemic Change

Mission City Chakra implements high-leverage, upstream interventions through schools, such as:

School Segment — Protecting Child Health

Eliminating the three major sources of daily, long-term plastic exposure:

No plastic tiffin boxes → only steel
No plastic water bottles → only steel
No plastic/laminated textbook covers → paper covers or no cover

Principals adopt these as school policies, ensuring rapid, system-wide adoption.

Corporate Office Segment – A Zero-Waste Office in 24 Steps

A step towards a zero-waste office through:

Zero-Waste Pantry/ Canteen
Zero-Waste Washrooms
Zero-Waste Meetings
Zero-Waste Events
Zero-Waste Premises

Restaurant Segment— Reducing Waste in HORECA Sector

ASK FIRST Campaign: Reducing waste in Take-Away Orders
Toggle for Tomorrow: Reducing waste in Delivery Orders
Reducing Packaging Waste in Supply Chain

Product Design Segment— It is a Huge Leverage Point where Waste is Reduced even before it is Created

Reducing waste BY DESIGN
A framework for Sustainable Product Design and Material Selection
Reducing Packaging Waste in Supply Chain

Our Impact

In just two years, Mission City Chakra has:

Reached 600+ schools across Pune
Engaged 3,00,000+ students
Helped 130 schools fully implement Phase I
Influenced 2,50,000+ families
Prevented an estimated 30 tonnes of plastic per year
Built a replicable model for Indian cities

We are demonstrating that systemic change is possible when the right decision-makers are empowered.

Who We Work With

We collaborate with:

School Principals
Office Administrators
Restaurant Owners
Product Designers
Municipal Corporators
CSR Managers

Together, we are creating institutional pathways for circularity that last.

Our Vision

A city where:

Every school protects children’s health
Every home practices zero-waste habits
Every community is circular
Waste is prevented, not managed
Urban systems mimic nature — where nothing becomes waste

A city where people participate not as consumers, but as policymakers in their own homes, schools, workplaces, and neighbourhoods.

Meet The Team

Director

Centre for Sustainable Development

Dr. Gurudas Nulkar

Gurudas has a Ph.D in industrial sustainability and environmental management. He has been the ‘Endeavour Fellow’ of the Government of Australia, where he studied sustainability initiatives within small and medium industries and city councils. Gurudas is a full Professor (visiting) at IIT Kanpur, where he teaches a course on the intersection of Ecology & Economy. Gurudas is the recipient of the 22nd Dewang Mehta Award for Best Professor of Management.
He is the author of several books. One of his books has been awarded the Government of Maharashtra 2019 “C.D.Deshmukh Award in Economic Literature,” and another book received the 2022 Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Award. Gurudas is a member of the Committee on Implementing Green Hydrogen of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, GOI, and an expert on several other committees and panels, including the UN-ESCAP program, the Government of Maharashtra, and the Divisional Commissioner’s office. He contributed to the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority Draft Plan as an ecological expert. He is a Senior Fellow of Pune International Centre, Energy, and a member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. He is on the board of the Ecological Society and ACWADAM. Gurudas has worked on projects funded by organisations such as the World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch, the Centre for Environmental Education, UNICEF, and others.

Aditi Deodhar

Aditi Deodhar is an environmental policy practitioner who leads Mission City Chakra, an initiative of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

She works at the intersection of systems thinking, behavioural change, and circular economy design, helping schools and communities eliminate waste at the source. Mission City Chakra has engaged 600+ schools, reached 3,00,000+ students, and enabled 130 schools to transition away from plastic tiffins, bottles, and laminated book covers. She is also the founder-director of Jeevitnadi – Living River Foundation and creator of Brown Leaf, two pioneering citizen movements for river revival through people participation and dry-leaf circularity.

Her work has consistently demonstrated one belief: When people understand their power to shape systems, they rise to the challenge. Mission City Chakra continues that journey — at the scale of an entire city.