June 2025

HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH

LBTC Wins BluGreen Award 2025:

Recognized by BBMP for impactful sustainable waste management in urban poor settlements project!

BluGreen Award 2025:

We're thrilled to share that LBTC has won the prestigious BluGreen Award by the BBMP Climate Action Cell for our Sustainable Waste Management project in urban poor settlements. This recognition, awarded on Environment Day (June 6th, 2025), stands as a testament to our team's dedication and hard work. We are deeply grateful to our amazing partners, well-wishers, and volunteers for their unwavering support. This achievement is just the beginning—we're committed to expanding our impact and making a difference in more localities. Let's work together towards a #CleanIndia.

Revisiting Roots: Our Heartfelt Meeting with Ramakant Sir

On 11th June we visited Mr.N.S. Ramakanth—affectionately known as Ramakanth sir—the senior-most member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) in Bengaluru, and a longstanding mentor to our team. Over the past decade, he has been a passionate advocate for waste segregation and zero-landfill initiatives, earning recognition as the “Namma Bengalurean of the Year” in 2016 for inspiring apartments, schools, and corporations to adopt sustainable practices.

We’ve been closely associated and collaborating with Ramakanth sir for many years now, and continue to stay in touch. This visit wasn’t about starting something new—it was simply a warm gesture from him. He invited us over to his home to catch up, have a friendly conversation, and understand the current work we’re doing on the ground.

The visit was both heartwarming and meaningful—an opportunity to share thoughtful insights and reminisce about our shared journey. Ramakanth sir’s continued dedication includes grassroots workshops for pourakarmikas, health inspectors, schools, and hospitals. He has influenced over 25,000 flats across hundreds of apartment complexes to adopt source segregation, guided large organizations like HAL, BEL, and BHEL toward zero-waste models, and played a major role in leading the TCS10K and other events toward sustainable waste practices.

His impact also extends to policymaking—having served on the BBMP Expert Committee on Municipal Waste Management and contributed to key Public Interest Litigations that resulted in the High Court mandating decentralized waste processing centers across Bengaluru.

The afternoon with him was a gentle reminder of how far we've come together and the importance of continuing our collective effort toward a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Reimagining Bengaluru's Waterscape Workshop

On June 25th, 2025, Let’s Be The Change was invited by the MOD Foundation and Purpose to take part in a thought-provoking workshop on reimagining the future of Bengaluru’s stormwater drains. Held at the BLR Design Centre on Church Street, the workshop brought together a diverse mix of community leaders, designers, and institutional stakeholders to explore how stormwater infrastructure can be more inclusive, effective, and responsive to the needs of communities living alongside it.

Let’s Be The Change was invited to share insights from our solid waste management efforts along the K100 canal—a project that has played a key role in improving cleanliness, reducing littering, and building awareness among residents in the surrounding areas. During our 15-minute presentation, we highlighted key strategies that worked on the ground, the challenges we faced, and actionable learnings that can inform future stormwater projects across the city.

This gathering emphasized the importance of integrating grassroots efforts with large-scale urban infrastructure to create solutions that are both sustainable and community-driven. We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our work and contribute to a collective vision for a cleaner, more resilient Bengaluru

Namma Swachha Adugodi (NSA) – Bosch:

Building on the foundation laid last year, the Namma Swachha Adugodi (NSA) project—initiated in collaboration with Bosch and Saahas—has now expanded its reach. What began with 3 pilot blocks (1 managed by Let’s Be The Change and 2 by Saahas) has now grown to cover 6 additional blocks, equally shared between both organizations.

Community Meeting in 1st Block

On 28th June 2025, we held a community meeting in our prior year block, with around 25 residents

participating. The session opened up meaningful conversations about waste management and community needs. Key points raised included:

• Request for consistent waste collection timings

• Suggestion for auto drivers to wait a little longer for upper-floor residents

• Concern over some Pourakarmikas performing household chores for residents instead of BBMP duties

• Waste not being collected from the main road

• Request to conduct awareness sessions with PG (Paying Guest) owners

• Two Forest Department areas needing focused cleaning

• Community meetings to be held quarterly

• Need for louder whistles to alert residents

• Concerns about dog litter in shared spaces

To recognize residents actively practicing segregation and maintaining clean surroundings, fridge magnets were distributed to 20 households as a token of appreciation.

Inauguration of Police Quarters 

Following the project launch in Rajendra Nagar last month, the NSA initiative was formally inaugurated at the Police Quarters on 21st June 2025.

The event was graced by Mr. Ramalinga Reddy, MLA of BTM Layout, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). Their presence and support reflected the growing institutional and community commitment to the initiative.

Silent Audit 

A silent survey conducted last month across the new 6 blocks revealed:

• Only 35% of households are currently giving their waste

• Among them, 75% are segregating their waste

• However, most households are using plastic liners, which poses a challenge for recycling the liner.

  Further insights are detailed in the attached graphical analysis.

Door-to-Door Awareness & Dustbin Distribution

Awareness campaigns and dustbin distribution have already begun in 2 of the 6 new blocks. Our goal this year is to reach and transform 8,963 households across the 6 blocks through consistent engagement and education.

Volunteering Activity with BOSCH 

On 14th and 21st June, we conducted two impactful volunteer drives with Bosch employees, who actively joined our team in door-to-door awareness sessions and dustbin distribution.

A total of 15 volunteers participated, collectively reaching over 250 households in 6 hours and reinforcing the spirit of corporate-community collaboration. 

Stories of Change:

An extension of the Veeraru course.

This is a platform to feature inspiring individuals or group who have embraced and led sustainable lifestyles. Whether they’ve been living sustainably for years or have transformed their habits recently, we want to share their journeys.

If you know someone with such a story, please reach out — they could be featured in our upcoming Stories of Change!

Inspiring Changemakers at the Youth Hackathon – Shanthinagar

On 21st June, Let's Be The Change was invited to the Youth Hackathon organized by Restless Development in Shanthinagar, focused on innovative solutions around Solid Waste Management and Water.

Our Founder, Anirudh S. Dutt, took part in the Knowledge Sharing & Mentoring session, where he delivered an inspiring talk on how Let's Be The Change (LBTC) began—from humble beginnings to becoming a driving force for sustainable change in Bengaluru.

Speaking candidly, Anirudh shared the early challenges and motivations that led to the birth of LBTC, and how he gradually built a movement by bringing together communities, local NGOs, and government bodies. His story offered valuable insights into navigating civic systems, the importance of grassroots participation, and the power of consistency in transforming public spaces and waste management systems.

The session left participants energized and encouraged to take forward their ideas for real-world impact, rooted in collaboration and purpose.

We’re grateful to Restless Development for the opportunity and look forward to seeing more young leaders take charge of their neighborhoods!

LBTC at Karnataka State Workshop on Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)

We’re proud to share that our Founder was honored to speak at the Karnataka State Government Workshop on Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) implementation held on 21st June 2025.

As part of the event, Let’s Be The Change had the privilege of conducting a dedicated session on IEC (Information, Education & Communication) and Capacity Building—key components for driving effective and sustainable implementation of SBM (Urban).

The session was attended by an incredible group of over 200 Environmental Engineers and Senior Health Inspectors from various Town Municipal Councils (TMCs) across Karnataka. We were grateful for the opportunity to share practical strategies, insights from the ground, and success stories from our work in urban communities.

We look forward to continuing our collaboration with state and local bodies to build a cleaner, more inclusive Karnataka.

Erudition Time:

Think Before You Buy: Are your Tambula/Package bags harming the Planet?

Have you ever paused to check whether the tambula bags or packaging bags you receive—especially for flowers or clothes—are truly made of cloth?

🔍 They may look like cloth, but most of them are actually made of PP (Polypropylene)—a type of plastic that is non-biodegradable and harmful to the environment. These woven plastic bags are often mistaken as eco-friendly, but they clog drains, pile up in landfills, and can’t be composted or easily recycled.

Quick Test: Cloth or PP (Plastic)?

The Burn Test (use only with caution and safety):

• Cloth: Burns slowly with a smell like burning paper or hair; leaves behind ash.

• PP: Melts, drips, and smells like burning plastic; leaves behind a hard residue.

Have you ever checked if the packaging bag or tambula bag you use is actually cloth or made of plastic (PP)?

• 🧐 Yes, I always check!
• 😕 No, I never thought about it until now.
• 🤷‍♀️ I thought they were all cloth!
• ♻️ I try to avoid all plastic-looking bags.