Aditi Deodhar

An Upstream Intervention in Action: How Pune’s Schoolchildren Are Preventing Plastic Pollution Before It Begins

Leave a Comment / City Systems & Scaling /

Mission City Chakra demonstrates how child-led behaviour change and family pledges can serve as a scalable upstream intervention—preventing plastic exposure, microplastic pollution, and long-term public health costs. Why Upstream Interventions Matter in Urban Waste Policy Urban waste systems across India—including Pune—are largely designed to manage waste after it is generated. Collection efficiency, processing capacity, and […]

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How Pune’s 3 Lakh Children Are Quietly Changing the City’s Waste Future

Leave a Comment / Schools & Children /

Mission City Chakra is mobilising Pune’s schoolchildren to eliminate plastic tiffins, bottles, and textbook covers—protecting health, preventing microplastic pollution, and triggering family-level behaviour change. A Quiet Shift Is Happening in Pune’s Homes and Schools Across Pune, a silent but powerful transformation is underway. More than 3 lakh schoolchildren are participating in a simple yet far-reaching

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The Mission City Chakra Model: A Scalable Blueprint for India’s Cities

Leave a Comment / City Systems & Scaling /

Mission City Chakra School Model offers a scalable, low-cost blueprint for Indian cities to prevent plastic waste at source through schools, families, and upstream behaviour change. India’s Urban Challenge Needs a New Kind of Solution India’s cities are growing faster than their waste systems. Despite improvements in collection and processing, plastic pollution continues to rise—largely

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A Small Toggle to Prevent a Big Mess: Why Food-Delivery Apps Must Add a ‘No Sachets & Napkins’ Option

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When you order food at home, do you really need ketchup sachets, vinegar pouches, oregano packets, or paper napkins?For most people, the answer is no—because the moment the delivery arrives, these items go straight into the trash unopened.Yet across India, millions of condiment sachets and paper napkins are pushed into every order by default—even when

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How Much Waste Hides in Your Take-Away Order?

Leave a Comment / Ask First, Zero Waste Restaurant, Zero-Waste City /

The Real Cost of Condiment Sachets and Paper Napkins Aditi Deodhar discusses how default condiment sachets and paper napkins in take-away orders create hidden waste, carbon emissions, and microplastic pollution — and why a simple “Ask First” approach can save money and protect the environment. When we think of restaurant waste, we usually picture big

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How a PMC Corporator Can Lead a Plastic-Free Tiffin Box, Bottle & Textbook-Cover Initiative in 5 Schools in the Ward—A Complete, Practical Guide

Leave a Comment / Designing for Zero Waste, PMC Corporators for Zero Waste City, Zero-Waste City, Zero-Waste Schools /

For the complete guidance and implementation support Contact Mission City Chakra, Centre for Sustainable Development, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics +91 7350000385, aditi.deodhar@gipe.ac.in × Plastic has quietly become a part of every child’s daily routine—tiffin boxes, water bottles, textbook covers, snack wrappers, stationery. But recent research shows that this routine exposure, especially between ages

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The Tiny Plastic Hook That Turns Into a Big Waste Problem

Leave a Comment / Designing for Zero Waste, Zero-Waste City /

Why Jockey’s Single-Use Hanger Is a Design Failure — And How It Could Lead the Industry Instead Open a pack of innerwear from any large brand and you’ll often find a small plastic hook or hanger attached to the packaging. Its only job is to let the pack hang neatly on a retail display. The

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The Family Steel Tiffin Pledge: A Small Commitment That Protects Your Child — and Inspires Your Neighborhood

Leave a Comment / Zero-Waste City, Zero-Waste-Home /

At Mission City Chakra, we believe that big environmental change begins with simple, everyday actions at home. One of the most powerful of these steps is something every family can do today:switching from plastic tiffins to steel tiffins for children. To turn this intention into a meaningful commitment, we’ve introduced the Family Steel Tiffin Pledge

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A Zero-Waste Pune and India — Yes, It Is Possible

Leave a Comment / Zero-Waste City, Zero-Waste Schools /

Protecting Child Health While Turning Policy Into Action In just two years, Mission City Chakra — an initiative of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics — has partnered with more than 600 schools across Pune. Out of these, 130 schools have already adopted zero-waste policies, impacting nearly 2.5 lakh

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