One Step Greener
In 2018, at the ages of 14 and 11, Vihaan and Nav founded One Step Greener (OSG), which now has five full-time employees, including two former ragpickers, and 11 dedicated young volunteers working towards the goal of a ‘Zero Waste India’.
Their first initiative was the segregation and management of waste, to prevent it from ending up in landfill. Vihaan came up with the idea of organising dry waste pick-ups within their local community for recycling. They started their service in 2018 with 15 homes, and, just two years later, they were collecting waste from more than 1,000 households, schools and offices.
What started off as a simple relaying of messages within their community’s WhatsApp groups is now a successful, city-wide operation. “I am more of a big picture person,” explains Vihaan, “and Nav helps with the execution and implementation.” The brothers take time after school, sometimes devoting 4-5 hours per day to the organisation, but still managing to enjoy outdoor sports and extra-curricular activities such as debating.
Fundraising
The entire initiative started through a bootstrap model and until now, they still do not have significant external funding. With a group of dedicated volunteers, they aim to make the organisation more sustainable by instilling responsibility in people and their communities. To date, they use spaces leased out by other family members who pitched in to help, and hire the truck for the waste pick-ups with the help of one of their family members who owns a business. They pay for the fuel and the driver’s salary with the money they collect through fundraising.
