Preparation work:
A group of volunteers came together and that formed the core group of the Campaign. The core group was responsible for conceptualization of the Campaign launch, outreach to volunteers, preparation of the Campaign materials and implement the launch; The group met every Saturday to strategise and plan the event. Every Saturday new members came to participate in these discussions. The Kalyani Nagar residents Association was approached for permission to use the Joggers Park as a venue for the launch.
Campaign material:
Posters: 50 posters were printed to be put up in stores and residential societies. The posters informed people about thee PMC ban and encouraged them to reuse shopping bags.
Flyers: 5000 flyers were printed to be distributed house to house. These contained information about plastic bags and their impact on the environment and also detailes about the UseMeAgain campaign along with contact details for follow up
Cloth bags: 500 cloth bags were printed with the UseMeAgain logo and distributed free pf charge – 10 bags per grocery store. In addition another 170 bags were added to this as a last minute offer from a resident of Kalyani nagar.
Newspaper bags: were sourced from the Rotary club initiative and their self help groups. These were sponsored by another resident of Kalyani nagar. These were given free of charge to grocery stores 25 per store.
Kits for volunteers:
Map of area they would cover
Excel sheet to collect data from the stores and residents
Instructions to group leaders on how to communicate the issue
Volunteer badges out of scrap cloth
Outreach work:
Emails: were sent out announcing the campaign and the launch
Newsarticles: A press release was sent and articles carried by DNA before the launch and by Times of India reporting the event
afterwards.
Facebook: A Facebook page was created to let people know about the event and the campaign:
Website: The UseMeAgain campaign was publicized on the eCoexist website
Groups contacted:
The following groups were contacted to participate in the campaign launch. Volunteers were oriented about the campaign and given instructions to go door to door and store to store carrying the message of reuse of shopping bags and distributing free newspaper and cloth bags along with other campaign material.
Schools:
Nagarwalas school
Bishops school
Loyolas High school
Social association:
IT Milan group
Residential societies:
Marigold Phase I
Harmony
Landmark
Landmark Gardens
Sky Lounge
Kalpataru
Leela Gardens
Siddarth Estate
Silver Oak
Imperial Residency
Saakshi Gopal
Peacock Palace
Goodwill society
Corporate groups:
Cybage
HSBC
PTC
Meetings were held by SWaCH volunteers with the following officials
Corporator, Shri Prakash Galande
Ward Officer , Vasant Patil
Ward Medical officer, Mrs Rekha Labade
At the event:
The day started with setting up of the materials at the venue. Participants started to register at 8.00 am and mentors were assigned for each group. The mentors were briefed on how to orient their groups on the days activities.
At 8 30 am we started the event with the singing of the national anthem, welcome and thanks to all participants for coming. At 9 am the corporator Mr Galande arrived and addressed the group present. A brief discussion on the issue of plastic carry bags and the goals of this campaign was also done here.
Campaign material was then handed over to group leaders and one by one they went on their way. Mr Galande and Mrs Labade attended the event on the 26th. In preparation for the event, the ward office sent out a notice to all commercial establishments in Kalyani nagar informing them of the launch and asking them to attend.
A few hours later the groups started to return one by one , and give us their feedback on their experience. We filmed their reports and these films were subsequently uploaded onto the Facebook page. Data sheets were collected back from each group
The event concluded with a review meeting amongst the core group of what worked and what didn’t.
Follow up activities:
We expect the work around the UseMeAgain campaign to go on actively for at least one year until the issue has been completely resolved in terms of awareness, and supply of alternatives.
As a follow up to the launch we expect to do the following:
• Compiling data collected during the launch and addressing the needs expressed
• Education sessions at Nagarwalas and Bishops looking at the issue in detail
• Trainings for self help groups around Kalyani nagar in the making of newspaper bags
• Facilitation of connection between suppliers and use – this will require an initial involvement on our part until the direct connection has been established and a steady supply is ensured. We expect this to take three months.
• Monitoring of the area : We will need to keep a regular check on the use of newspaper bags – we may need to create a helpline for complaints if necessary.
• Create a list of societies that have not yet been covered and repeat the campaign there in the next few months.
• Create a network of societies who want to regularly give newspaper to self help groups
To meet these goals the core group will continue to meet twice a month and plan further activities.
