Rise Foundation (NGO)

Ecobricks traction in Kuwait

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden

We thanks to whole heartily the administration of Indian Educational School, Kuwait for showing interest in learning more about “Plastic Pollution and Ecobricks ” and arranged a wonderful and interactive session with School students from Class 6th to 9th. 100+ students participated in this online session. The session was conducted on 30th Sept 2021.

Team Rise Foundation delighted to share the problem of Plastic Waste in Kuwait and how the Kuwaiti desert & beaches are filled with plastic waste. The marine life is in danger because of these pollutants. Since the Country is situated near the Sea side, the route for traveling trash from surface to sea is easier. Some facts about Kuwait waste problem are as follows:

•Kuwait generates 1.5 kilograms of trash per person per day, twice the global average. •2 million tons of solid waste is generated annually •Approx 18 – 20% is plastic waste •90 per cent of waste – from food to sewage to petroleum – ends up in landfills

The total land area of Kuwait is around 17,820 sq. km, out of which more than 18 sq. km is occupied by landfills. Area of the landfill sites ranges from tens to hundreds of hectares with waste deposition depth varying from 3 to 30 meters.

Most of the landfill sites have been closed for more than 20 years due to operational problems and proximity to new residential, commercial and industrial areas. These sites include Sulaibiyah, Kabed, Al‐Qurain, Shuaiba, Jleeb AI Shuyoukh, West Yarmouk, AI Wafra among others. Migration of leachate beyond landfill site boundaries is a frequent problem noticed across Kuwait. Groundwater contamination has emerged as a serious problem because groundwater occurs at shallow depths throughout the country.

Kuwait’s enormous tyre graveyard is home more than 7 million end of life rubber tyres.Sulaibiya is an area within Kuwait which houses gigantic craters filled to the brim with worn tyres that have no use. After thousands of miles on the road, these old tyres end up piled up here and can now be seen from space.

There are many events visible on social media, which talks about how desert and marine are filled with plastic waste.

There are many steps are taken by the Kuwaiti Govt, but it is learnt that the plastic recycling facilities are not many in the country, which means, mostly waste is dumped into landfill, where it is ill effecting the environment.

In second past of the session, we shared the simple yet effective solution “Ecobricks”. Some students were aware about ecobricks, but their perception was that developing countries may required ecobricks solutions. We corrected them that the Single use and MLP plastic is used across globe and it is littering around in every country like anything, So one should not discriminate the solution based on per capita etc.. Since we are the generator of this waste, it is our duty to find and apply the solution.

Many students asked abut any possible bacteria which can eat or decompose plastic. After intriguing, we found that ” Ideonella sakaiensis is a bacterium from the genus Ideonella and family Comamonadaceae capable of breaking down and consuming the plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a sole carbon and energy source”. But this solution is yet not commercially available.

At the end, we got the feedback and Vote of thanks from Mr. T Premkumar, Certificates to Team Rise Foundation Mr. Madhukar Varshney and Munish Kundra.

We look forward to have some action from Kuwait on fighting plastic pollution and making ecobricks.

About IES Kuwait : Indian Educational School in Kuwait is a part of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a premier institution of education in India. Dr- K. M Munshi, a far-sighted visionary and a practical idealist, who was also one of the chief members of India’s constituent assembly.

For more information , explore the link : http://bhavanskuwait.com/

To conduct such online or offline workshops, feel free to write us at mail2risefoundation@gmail.com or whatsapp at +91 9717764262

Ecobricks is an effective solution for Urban Floods

Today team Rise Foundation conducted a session with JJ Colony children. While doing the conversation and asking simple questions the following picture cam forward to us:

Rise Question 1: What happen when excessive rain happens in the city ,like happened in recently in Delhi

Children Answers : Flooding, Gutter Over flow

Rise Question 2: What is the main reason for Guttor over flow

Children Answer : Gutter filled with waste, Timely cleaning does not happen !!

Rise Question 3: How can we stop sending waste to gutter

Answer : Throw the garbage in dustbin, do not throw garbage in Open

Above are some of the conversation happened with children. Which clearly indicate the reason and solution for Urban Flood.

Urban floods are entirely manmade with poorly maintained drains, plastic bags, shrinking open spaces and climate change contributing to accumulation of water on roads after a heavy downpour, experts say. They said that steps such as rainwater harvesting, ban on use of plastic bags and better use of weather forecasts will go a long way in helping tackle flooding in cities after rains.

Some of the pics of Urban Flood below from Delhi, Gurugram and Mumbai.

One of the Example from Phillipines:

PLASTIC wastes have been the hardest to manage in terms of its disposal after use. But residents of Barangay Zone 10 in Talisay City in collaboration with punong barangay and City Councilor Resty Tuvilla found means on how to make those plastic wastes useful again.

Just a simple motivation to the residents, the said officials enjoined them to gather plastic wastes from their homes and immediate vicinity in exchange of staple rice.

They named the initiative as “BARTER BUGAS SA BASURA,” that spurred the residents to collect, dry, cut-up in small pieces and tightly-packed into 1.5 liter bottles ready to be used as building block for ecobricks.

“For every kilo of bottle bricks, our barangay barters two kilos of rice,” Tuvilla said. Together with his village council members and local residents, they cleared waterways in the area since July 2019 as un-clogging measure against urban floods, as well as an educative way of promoting segregation and getting underway the discipline among households on how to keep track of their plastic consumption.

Tuvilla added that the “bottle bricks” shall be used as building block to mold eco-bricks. The bottle bricks are used around the world to build benches, houses, school buildings and other multi-functional structures. Tuvilla revealed that the bottle bricks will be used to construct the first playhouse for the children of Barangay 10.

Reference : https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1819877/Bacolod/Lifestyle/Plastic-wastes-made-into-eco-bricks

So, by enabling community , we can have win-win situation for city. Ecobricks can be one of the tool to fight with Plastic waste and Urban flood.

Approx 40+ children attended the workshop and agreed to start making Ecobricks at home. Rise Foundation team will collect the ecobricks from them for making some structure.

Fun thru Theater Workshop

On 14th Sept 2021, The members of Antraal Theater Group Mr. Ahad and Mr. Fahad taken a wonderful, interactive and full of fun theater workshop to the childrens at Rise Foundation JJ Colony Phase 3 center.

Antraal is a group of theatre enthusiasts, running since 2007. Anyone interested in performance can join in, age, occupation, gender no bar.

Reach to http://antraaltheatre.blogspot.in/ or +91 99718 12730 for more information about Antraal Theater Group

हिंदी दिवस पर बच्चो के मनमोहक कार्यक्रम ने दिल छू लिया

“राष्ट्रभाषा के बिना राष्ट्र गूंगा है: महात्मा गांधी “

आज १४ सितंबर #RiseFoundation द्वारा #jjc #Phase3 #sector3 #Dwarka सेंटर पर बच्चों के साथ मिलकर हिंदी दिवस मनाया गया। बच्चों ने अपनी कुशल प्रतिभाओं के माध्यम से हिंदी दिवस के बारे में अपने विचार रखे। सतरंगी रंगों से बने ग्रीटिंग कार्ड बेहद मनमोहक थे व कविताओं के माध्यम से उन्होंने हिंदी के महत्व को बताया।

माधुरी वार्ष्णेय – सेक्रटरी राइज फाउंडेशन ने कहा कि “ये छोटे छोटे कार्यक्रम उनमे प्रतिभा का विकास व आत्मविश्वास को बढ़ाने में सहायक होते है। “

हिन्दी दिवस प्रत्येक वर्ष 14 सितम्बर को मनाया जाता है। 14 सितम्बर 1949 को संविधान सभा ने एक मत से यह निर्णय लिया कि हिन्दी ही भारत की राजभाषा होगी। इसी महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय के महत्व को प्रतिपादित करने तथा हिन्दी को हर क्षेत्र में प्रसारित करने के लिये राष्ट्रभाषा प्रचार समिति, वर्धा के अनुरोध पर वर्ष 1953 से पूरे भारत में 14 सितम्बर को प्रतिवर्ष हिन्दी-दिवस के रूप में मनाया जाता है। एक तथ्य यह भी है कि 14 सितम्बर 1949 को हिन्दी के पुरोधा व्यौहार राजेन्द्र सिंहा का 50-वां जन्मदिन था, जिन्होंने हिन्दी को राष्ट्रभाषा बनाने के लिए बहुत लंबा संघर्ष किया। स्वतंत्रता प्राप्ति के बाद हिन्दी को राष्ट्रभाषा के रूप में स्थापित करवाने के लिए काका कालेलकर, मैथिलीशरण गुप्त, हजारीप्रसाद द्विवेदी, सेठ गोविन्ददास आदि साहित्यकारों को साथ लेकर व्यौहार राजेन्द्र सिंह ने अथक प्रयास किए।

यहां बोली जाती है हिंदी

भारत के साथ ही नेपाल, अमेरिका, मॉरिशस, फिजी, द.अफ्रीका, सूरीनाम, युगांडा सहित दुनिया के कई देश ऐसे हैं जहां पर हिंदी बोली जाती है। नेपाल में करीब 80 लाख हिंदी बोलने वाले रहते हैं। वहीं अमेरिका में हिंदी बोलने वालों की संख्या करीब साढ़े छह लाख है।

Reference : https://www.naidunia.com/national-hindi-diwas-date-this-month-is-hindi-day-know-its-history-importance-and-everything-about-it-6314389

Hope Apartments, Gurugram is planning to participate in Composting Revolution

12th Sep 2021
Location : Hope Apartments , Sec 15, Gurugram

Team RISE Foundation (NGO)Madhukar Varshney Madhuri Varshney and Munish Kundra gave wonderful session on Solid Waste Management Rule 2016 , Why and how to manage Municipal Solid Waste at Society level and how to handle single use plastic by making ecobricks.

There was an online survey conducted before the workshop and it is learn that almost 50% participants are not aware about landfills, SWM 2016 and penalty clause for bulk generators. All these topics were covered in the workshop.

Right now Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) do not collect any waste from the society. The sanitation team dispose the mix waste to the given location. It is also learnt that many wards in Gurugram are yet not serviced by MCG . So, there is no question of creating any awareness by MCG to the citizens.

RWA/MC realised the pathetic situation of Waste management in Gurugram and agreed to start the waste segregation from one block and start making compost with in the society. Once the trail in one block is successful,then the waste segregation and composting will be done at society level.

Team Rise Foundation NGO will help the to make framework for waste segregation at source and making compost.

We were joined by Sarika Verma , Doctor by profession and Environmentalist by heart. She lives near Sec 15. She shared her views and her efforts to make Zero waste society.

Our friend Bhanu Singh joined the session all the way from Ghaziabad and made commitment to do his bit for waste management at home, specially his son Jayant was super excited to make ecobricks at home from plastic waste.

#zerowasteliving #sustainability #sdgs2030 #circulareconomy #composter #compostingathome #orgnanicwaste #foodwaste #kitchewaste #drumcomposter #terracottacomposter #kitchengarden #ecobricks #plasticpollution #oceanpollution #bandhwari #landfills #saynotoplastic #saynotosingleuseplastic
#society #wastemanagement

Plastic Pollution and Ecobricks Online Session GD Goenka School, Vasant Kunj

Date: 11/09/2021
Topic : Plastic Pollution and Ecobricks
Location: Online
Trainer: Madhukar Varshney & Munish Kundra
Participants: 50

Madhukar Varshney and Munish Kundra ran an online sessions for students of GD Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj (New Delhi) with the objective of bringing awareness of Plastic Pollution and its impact on Oceans thru rivers. Additionally , Munish Kundra shown a demo of making Ecobricks . Rise Foundation is aiming to recruit more young supporters within the city .

The session had total of 50+ school students . Children made lots of questions and some demonstrated interest in creating projects and many ideas emerged. The sessions went well and feels like we are connecting with the right community to get the Ecobrick movement started right.

History of Ecobrick?

Ecobricks were first made in number and utilized on a community scale in Guatemala in 2003 with Susana Heisse’s project Pura Vida Atitlan. Since then numerous projects have been started all around the globe.

What is an Ecobrick?

An Ecobrick is a plastic bottle filled, and packed tightly with none recyclable materials so that it can be used as a building block for a structure. Pretty much becoming a brick, made of plastic.

We thanks to Beena maam for arranging the wonderful session for the school students.

GD Goenka ,Vasant Kunj Mission

The school motto HIGHER STRONGER BRIGHTER takes its core idea from a quest for excellence, an insatiable thirst for knowledge and a limitless craving for the latest.

For more information , kindly visit : https://gdgps.gdgoenka.com/

About Rise Foundation

Rise foundation is a non-profitable organization registered in the year 2011, purely engaged on voluntary services. We are involved in different activities in the field of education for underprivileged children and awareness program for women and deprived section of society. We do activities and awareness workshop on various issues like health and hygiene, legal aids through DLSA for domestic violence, awareness workshop on waste segregation and composting (including Dwarka societies) for the last 10 years. Recently we started Urban Forest plantation using Miyawaki Technique and Workshops on Ecobricks to curb plastic pollution.

If you want to conduct online or offline sessions for Ecobricks, feel free to reach Mr. Madhukar Varshney at 9717764262 or Mr. Munish Kundra at 9818739265 or write us at mail2risefoundation@gmail.com

Waste Management & Ecobricks Session at MAMS Uttrakhand

“You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.”
― Roy T. Bennett

Our Founder Mr. Madhukar Varshney delivered Solid Waste Management and Ecobricks Interactive session at Maa Anandmayee Memorial School , Raiwala, Uttrakhand last Friday.

Students learnt about the categories of Waste at home, why we should make compost from Wet waste and finally the problem of Plastic Pollution/Ocean Pollution with easy yet powerful solution Ecobricks.

He met with dynamic team of school including Principal maam, Mr. Arpit Panjwani (Director,Mams) and Mr Arjun ( Atal Innovation Mission Official ).

Madhukar Varshney with Mr. Arpit Panjwani (Director, MAMS)

School is really providing valuable life skills along with education and become a one of the torchbearer school in Uttrakhand and working on SDG Targets also.

We wish school to continue good work for society.

If any School want such session on Waste Management, Feel free to reach us at + 91 97177 64262 .

#qualityeducation
#lifeskills
#wastemanagement
#zerowasteschool
#sdg2030
#sdg
#sdgactioncampaign
#ecobricks
#plasticpollution

Why Mulching is Important!!

” Trees are a natural teacher and they can show us how we are connected to our natural world.

” Today team RISE Foundation (NGO) Madhukar Varshney & Munish Kundra did mulching at #badusarai #miyawakiforest site using dry leaves from Brahma Apartments Sec 7 Dwarka.

Definition : Mulch is any material that is spread or laid over the surface of the soil as a covering – but organic mulches specifically help to improve the soil’s fertility, as they decompose.

The benefits of mulching are as follows:

1. Soil will retain water for longer time I.e. it will slow the evaporation.

2. It will stop or slow down the weeds on site

3. Later on these leaves will turn into compost

4. Safe disposal of horticulture waste.

Mulching is an important part of generating and maintaining the rich soil we need to sustain our miyawaki site.

#saveenvironment #savetheearth #SaveDelhi #health #teacher #farming #sustainability #climatechange #environment #nature #climatecrisis #climatesolutions #miyawakiforest Less

Plastic Pollution Awareness Session for GD Goenka Public School Dwarka

As we all know that environment plays an important role in healthy and balanced living as well as existence on planet earth. But with the advent of technology and more comfort creating products, various adversities and pollutants are seen to be affecting the ecological system in today’s time. One of the major pollutants these days is PLASTIC.

Plastic is used by the entire world on a gigantic scale. The detrimental side to the usage of plastic has ultimately dawned upon us. The toxic effects of plastic are so farfetched that no biodiversity is left plastic –free today .Due to its synthetic nature, plastic is practically non – biodegradable, which makes it perfect for its use in water –resistant products.

To create awareness about Plastic Pollution and its harmful effects and the simplest yet powerful solution “Ecobricks” online session given to Students of GD Goenka Public School Dwarka (New Delhi) on 4th Sept 2021.

The students participated very well and motivated to make ecobricks at home using MLP (Multilayer plastic) and Single use plastic thrown to garbage. We are very well aware that once this plastic is mixed with other waste- it is next to impossible to FIX the problem and it will defiantly reach to either landfills or Oceans to create nuisance. More that 80 students participated in the online interactive session.

History of Ecobrick?

What is an Ecobrick?

An Ecobrick is a plastic bottle filled, and packed tightly with none recyclable materials so that it can be used as a building block for a structure. Pretty much becoming a brick, made of plastic.

We thanks to Principal Ms Anita Khosla and Mrs Jyotika Jakhar for arranging the wonderful session for the school students.

The vision and mission of GD Goenka Public School , Dwarka :

The REAL mission of schooling is to inculcate in students the values of social justice, understanding and appreciation of diversity, patience and tolerance, empathy, fearlessness and courage.These help in developing the ability to live together in harmonious communities.

We envision an education system that breeds inspiration and innovation and kindles the dormant forces, faculties and talents of the students.

For more information about the school, please visit http://www.gdgoenkadwarka.com/GDGoenka/html/home.html

About Rise Foundation

If you want to conduct online or offline sessions for Ecobricks, feel free to reach Mr. Madhukar Varshney at 9717764262 or Mr. Munish Kundra at 9818739265 or write us at mail2risefoundation@gmail.com