V Collect on Wheels – A SWaCH initiative for Diwali
Do you want to give away good quality used items but do not know how? V Collect on wheels is here. It connects donors and users of old items while benefiting the earth and reducing carbon foot print!
Diwali is the season for giving and receiving, and also the season for cleaning and de-cluttering. When we clean-up we often discard things that we have no use for at the time. But these items sometimes have years of use left in them. And what better way to extract the maximum out of anything than to give a pre loved item to someone who can use it some more? Each time you extend the use of an item of clothing by just 9 months for instance, you reduce the carbon footprint of that by 30%.
But how do you connect the giver to the new user? Enter V collect by SWaCH. A program that has kept tonnes of material out of landfills and made quality material accessible to those who cannot afford to buy or those who prefer to use pre- loved items, V collect has been part of the Pune landscape for some time now.
This year however has been fraught with challenges and to tackle the issue of limited travel, social distancing and safety, V collect is also starting a new Avatar – V Collect on wheels. Between the 9 – 13 November, V collect teams will criss-cross the city with brief stopovers that will enable citizens to give away all their unwanted material. This is an express service in addition to the V collect drives happening regularly from the 1st of November.
SWaCH has been authorized by the PMC and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to collect E waste. It has also been collecting clothes and other discarded items for several years and recycling it all. However collection centres are not always easily accessible to everyone. Hence the V collect on wheels was devised as a Diwali service for the citizen’s convenience. The initiative is supported by local elected councillors and the PMC.
Corporator Madhuri Sahasrabudhe is a strong supporter of SWaCH since its inception. Now as the Chairperson, Women and child Welfare Committee of PMC she welcomed the initiative of V-Collect – Collection On Wheels
Smita Rajabali, who heads the vertical at SWaCH, adds “There was an urgent call from citizens to make it more easily accessible to the far flung areas of the city. This would extend our reach to more citizens who can drop their stuff at any one of the points close to them, as well as make it convenient for the waste pickers and urban poor to access the materials for reuse especially with Diwali round the corner”.
For more details, contact Smita Rajabali on 70660 32972 or Call SWaCH helpline 9765999500.
