The FINILOOP programme to better manage plastic waste in India has officially launched in Udaipur and Amritsar. It will launch in a third city later this year.
FINILOOP—which stands for Financial Inclusion of Improved Livelihoods out of Plastics—aims to address plastic pollution in cities while strengthening the livelihoods of informal waste workers and fostering innovation in plastic recycling businesses.
WASTE, together with programme partners Trust Of People (TOP) and Aspirelabs Accelerator, officially launched the FINILOOP programme on February 7 and 9. In both cities, people who work at all levels of waste management attended the launch—from informal waste-picker organisations, to aggregators (kabadiwala) who buy from waste pickers, to plastic recycling and waste-service companies, to city officials.
The programme partners presented the results of their baseline study, and all the stakeholders agreed to collaborate on this important programme. The launch concluded with the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the programme partners and the city of Amritsar.
Improving livelihoods and the environment
In India, plastic waste is a growing problem. With many cities struggling to implement an affordable, effective waste-management system, plastic waste often ends up dumped in the open or burned. It pollutes waterways and the air, and threatens people’s health.
Informal waste workers search through the waste to ‘pick’ anything valuable or recyclable. One of the most vulnerable communities in India, they live and work under unsafe conditions, yet they play a key role in the plastic-waste value chain. The FINILOOP programme will empower waste-picker communities in the target areas, supporting start-up waste businesses with technical assistance and enabling existing businesses to grow by linking them to financing.
Our key goals under this phase of the programme are to empower at least 1,500 waste pickers in the three cities, improving their plastic waste value chains through the establishment and growth of 72 (innovative) plastic waste businesses, and to enable the safe management of an additional 4,500 tonnes of plastic waste.
Find out more about the FINILOOP programme
Read about our work on solid waste management, including plastics
