Nitin GadkariHonourable Minister of Road Transport, Highways &

Shipping and Water Resources, Government of India

Plastic is one of the biggest polluter worldwide multiplying manifolds every moment. Plastic thrown away as waste worldwide annually is sufficient to encircle the earth four times. Also it can survive in the environment for up to 500 years.

Considering the gravity of the issue, it is high time that everyone makes an effort to contribute towards a better planet with sustainable ecosystem. Completely banning

the use plastics especially which are non-reusable is foremost step. But for the plastic waste already generated, there is need to use innovative approaches to dispose them judiciously by recycling and reusing them for different activities. Recycling plastic takes 88% less energy than making new plastic.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways promulgated the Green Highways (Plantations, Transplantations, Beautification and Maintenance) Policy – 2015 for developing green corridors along the national highways contributing towards better environment and meeting India’s CoP 21 Summit commitment by greening and carbon sequestration. Moving a step ahead, Highways can contribute significantly in judicious and effective use of plastic waste as well by keeping our NHs litter free by effective waste management on one hand and on another hand using the plastic waste in road construction material. Though this sounds new but there already few initiatives in this direction however, those are not standardized yet and need support for standardisation and larger dissemination of the learning.

I am pleased to know that Green Highways Division, NHAI and Earthwatch Institute India have joined hands to initiate a fellowship programme targeting the issue of “Plastic Waste and Ecological Sustainability”. I am sure this fellowship will bring in innovative ideas to combat this grave issue of plastic waste. I am glad to note that the fellowship programme will support young professionals, researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs and community workers.

I would once again congratulate GHD, NHAI and Earthwatch Institute India in taking up this challenge of plastic waste through this fellowship programme and providing opportunity for research, innovation, ground testing, awareness generation and entrepreneurship for using the plastic in right way for making world plastic waste free contributing towards environmental sustainability.

Fellowship Programme on ‘Beat the Plastic Pollution through Innovative Ideas’ and ‘Greening of Highways’ Initiative.

Encouraging Professionals towards Scientific Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Greening the Corridors, Promoting Skill Development and Livelihood Opportunities.

About The FellowshipPlastic has brought a revolution in our day to day lives with its many valuable uses, but over time we have become too dependent on them especially single-use or disposable plastic which has severe environmental consequences. Adding to it, improper disposal of the plastic waste and no practice of re-using have further burdened the planet and the environment with this deadly pollutant which takes a long time to decay.

Every year about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced worldwide and about 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans, the equivalent of a full garbage truck every minute. In the last decade, more plastic was produced than in the whole last century. Plastics contain a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic or disrupt hormones.

“Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018 is a call by the host country, India, for all of us to come together to combat one of the major environmental challenges of our time that is plastic pollution. It urges all to make changes in everyday life to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife and our own health.

To further strengthen the efforts around ‘Beat the Plastic Pollution’, we have initiated a Fellowship Programme to engage and bring together academia, researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs, and professionals in community programmes and environment conservation, working on innovative ideas for reducing the Plastic pollution by proper disposal and recycling. One such initiative is creating carbon neutral roads through ‘Greening of Highways’ and use of plastics in highways construction. Green Highways Policy 2015 has a significant role in developing additional carbon sink outside forests; promote environment amelioration; and also making Green Highways a tool to generate employment for rural communities. (Source: Proceedings of National Convention

on Innovations in Green Highways)

The Fellowship Programme, a collaborative initiative of Green Highways Division, NHAI and Earthwatch Institute India, will encourage new and innovative ideas and create awareness around Beat the Plastic Pollution, Recycling / Re-use of Plastics in Highways and also developing a new kind of ecosystem in relation to CO2 sequestration, GHG emissions, livelihood generation and encouraging plantation for green corridors.

Message

Objectives of the Fellowship Programme:

Support young professionals in research, engineering, entrepreneurship, community programmes, plantation work, environment

conservation and climate action, who bring innovative thinking and ideas with respect to plastic waste and work towards developing

inspiring case studies / success stories for wider dissemination.

Eligibility and Selection

• Applicantshouldhavepriorexperience(atleast3years)ofworkingontheissuesrelevanttothefellowship,havevisionfor

the future and innovative ideas to develop the work further.

• TheFellowshipwillbeawardedtoanindividual.

• Applicantcanbeafreelancerorworkingwithaninstitution.Applicanthastosecurepermissionfromtherespectiveinstitution

for accepting the fellowship.

Fellowship Duration

Duration of the fellowship programme will be one year starting from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020.

Financial Assistance

• TheFellowshipwillofferafinancialsupportofRs.1,00,000(RupeesOneLakh)toeachfellow.

• TheFellowcanusethefellowshipfundsfor(butnotlimitedto)technologyauthentication,skilldevelopment,entrepreneurship,

supporting alternative and sustainable livelihood for community members and developing educational and outreach initiatives

for sharing innovative ideas and success stories around effective use and disposal of plastic waste.

• TheFellowwillsubmittheproposalforthescopeofutilisationofthefellowshipfortheintendedactivities.

Raghuvansh Saxena CEO

Earthwatch Institute India

AK BhattacharyaHead

Green Highways Division National Highways Authority of India

The Fellowship Programme on ‘Beat the Plastic Pollution’

and ‘Greening of Highways’ is a collaborative initiative of

the Green Highways Division, National Highways Authority

of India and Earthwatch Institute India. This unique

initiative will bring together multi-discipline professionals,

researchers, scientists, engineers, citizen scientists, social

entrepreneurs, conservation professionals and educators

to promote innovations and solutions.

The Fellowship Programme presents a unique opportunity

to promote the importance of public engagement in

understanding the problems of plastic pollution and

solutions to address the urgency of the issue. The

opportunity of working with the Green Highways Division,

National Highways Authority of India is an enriching

experience. They bring a huge amount of experience and

energy in this important subject area. Earthwatch Institute

India is a premier scientific research, educational and skill

development institution in the field of environment, energy

and sustainable development with considerable experience

of working with world class institutions. The institution is

creating a niche in its work in citizen science, experiential

learning and skill development in the green sector.

Together we will develop a unique and powerful fellowship

programme to connect with innovative thinkers, committed

professionals and practitioners.

Due to economic viability and ease of availability and

use, plastics have become a vital and integral part of our

life in spite of its manifold harmful effects. It is one of the

major toxic pollutants of the current time which is also non-

biodegradable. It pollutes earth and causes both air and

water pollution besides having grave impacts on the health

of humankind.

Appreciating the magnitude of the issue, Hon Minister

of RTH, S & WR has already taken cognizance and held

meeting on 11th October 2018 of the officers of the concerned

Departments and advised to promote use of plastic waste in

bituminous mixes in the construction of National Highways.

Negative impacts of the plastics overweigh its benefits and

force us to come together to fight this mammoth pollutant with

the help of innovative thinking and research for recycling and

reusing the existing plastic waste and creating awareness

among people for stop using the plastics completely. This

fellowship will support the interventions and new thinking in

this direction.

It is my gratification to jointly initiate the fellowship programme

on Plastics in National Highways along with Earthwatch

Institute India. The fellowship will support young professional

in their endeavour to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic waste.

The research and thrust areas mainly include innovations,

transfer of technology, entrepreneurship, and applications.

I hope the fellowship will help the society in combating the

issue of plastic waste and its management through new and

innovative ideas of recycling and reusing plastic into initiatives

such as creation of roads which can be further scaled up.

Scope of the Fellowship

i. Technology Authentication: The fellows with interest in research could visit scientific institutions and national laboratories

working on eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, plastic recycling and up-cycling, develop citizen science programmes that

provide ‘engagement in research, knowledge sharing and solutions’.

ii. Raw Material: The fellows with interest in entrepreneurship and in working with community stakeholders could visit

non-government and business institutions working on availability of plastic for recycling and road construction such as

organisations involved in collection, segregation and recycling of plastic waste and livelihood generation.

iii. CO2 Sequestration / Emission: The fellows with interest in environment and climate action related work could visit

institutions working on carbon footprint analysis, carbon reduction strategies and low carbon emissions for enhancing the

scope of the work done towards the construction of green highways. Visits to educational institutions, municipal corporations

and civil society institutions to motivate the members to plant more trees along the green highways / green corridors,

providing ecological services, ground water recharge and supporting biodiversity with suitable native tree / shrub for road

side plantations. The green corridors along the highways will help in sequestration of GHG emissions as an effective means

of pollution control. (Source: Vision Document: National Green Highways Mission, National Highways Authority of India, Ministry of Road

Transport & Highways)

iv. Public Outreach: The fellowship programme will encourage exposure visits and experiential learning sessions with students,

teachers and citizens for awareness generation for explaining the overall process of road construction through plastic

recycling and significance of green highways. Knowledge management through case studies on various success stories on

plastics and practitioners actually working on it.

Green Highways Projects - Guwahati (Plantation along NH 31)

Other Features of the Fellowship

• Thefellowshipprogrammewillfocusonindividualsworkingonup-cyclingorrecyclingofplasticwaste,usingitforinnovative

techniques like plastic road construction, packaging, 3D printing, etc

• ThefellowshipwillalignonplasticpollutionwithNationalMissionsandInitiativessuchasGreenHighwaysPolicy,Beatthe

Plastic Pollution, Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat Mission as well as relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

• Fellowswillengagewithcitizensandcommunitymemberstosharetheirworkusing‘ExperientialLearning’and‘Citizen

Science’ approach and will share the benefits of this initiative to society at large.

• Aspartofthefellowshipprogramme,wewillworkwiththeapplicantforproperdocumentationoftheapplicant’swork,case

studies and success stories for wider outreach. This will also be uploaded on various institutional websites for providing

fellows with a platform for connecting with a network of like-minded professionals for collaboration.

• Anetworkingworkshopwillbeorganisedduringthefellowshipprogrammeforbringingtogetherthefellowstocreateaforum

for sharing of ideas and developing new collaborations.

How to Apply

May apply through the Website links of:

Green Highways Division – National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)www.nationalgreenhighway.organd

Earthwatch Institute India www.EarthwatchIndia.org

Please email for any query to Vriti at vriti_2509@yahoo.co.in / info@earthwatch.org.in

Thanks to Green Highways Division, National Highways Authority of India for providing photographs for the flyer.

Photo & Text Acknowledgement: Photo archive from Green Highways Division, National Highways Authority of India, UN Environment, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Swapna Prabhu, Tree Watch Mobile Application, Vriti, Surbhi, Sumit Verma, Muskan Jyoti Samiti, Lilian Sum, Sacred Earth Trust, Ninad Raut, Shubhada Nikharge, CSR by L&T, JUSCO, TATA Enterprise, M/s Nirmal BoT Ltd and archive of Earthwatch Institute India.

Disclaimer: This publication is for the purpose of free distribution only and is presented solely for informational purposes. Though, every effort has been made to make it as accurate as possible, the information compiled from various sources in the flyer should serve only as a general guide and not as ultimate source of subject information. Earthwatch Institute India, Green Highways Division and NHAI, contributing individuals and supporting agencies of this initiative shall have no liability or responsibility to any person or entity regarding any loss or damage incurred, or alleged to have incurred, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this flyer and do not necessarily reflect their official policy or position.

Indore – Median Trees Landscaping – Elevated Expressway Nashik

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH),

Government of India has promulgated Green Highways

(Plantations, Transplantations, Beautification and Maintenance)

Policy – 2015 on 29th September 2015 to develop green corridors

along National Highways for sustainable environment and

inclusive growth. The policy envisions “development of eco-friendly

National Highways with participation of the communities, farmers,

NGOs, private sector, institutions, government agencies and the

Forest Departments for economic growth and development in a

sustainable manner.”

Under the aegis of the Policy, development of green corridors is

proposed along developed and upcoming National Highways in

the width available in existing Right of Way (ROW) in the form of

median and avenue plantations.

Roadside plantations have immense potential to enhance the

green cover of nation and generate employment opportunities

for rural community. Green Highways Division - under

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been entrusted

with the task of planning, implementation and monitoring roadside

plantations along one lakh km network of National Highways which

would in turn generate one lakh direct employment opportunity in

plantations sector in next ten years.

The vision of Green Highways for Sustainable Environment &

Inclusive Growth is “to develop eco-friendly National Highways

with participation of the community, farmers, NGOs, private sector,

institutions, government agencies and the Forest Department for

economic growth and development in a sustainable manner.”

Green Highway Division National Highway Authority of India

Mission for next ten years

• 10 crore tree plantations along NHs.

• Green Corridor Development along NHs.

• Sequestering approx 12 Lakh MT of Carbon.

• 1 Lakh Direct Employment Generation.

• Setting Center for Innovation in Green Pathways.

Earthwatch Institute India

Earthwatch Institute India (EWI) is a premier Scientific Research,

Educational and Skill Development institution working in the

field of Environment, Sustainable Development, Energy, Water,

Urban Ecology, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forests

and Eco-System Services with considerable experience

of working with world class. EWI field projects provide

transformational learning experience with skill development

opportunities that promotes sustainable actions.

EWI works with scientists, technologists, educators, innovators,

entrepreneurs and subject experts to implement various

projects and programmes. EWI Projects and Programmes have

provided engagement opportunities for students, teachers,

executives and multi-discipline professionals.

The community based and skill development programmes

have provided engagement opportunities for village community

members, farmers, youth and self-help groups on low cost

energy and environment friendly solutions and diverse range

of knowledge gain, skills and motivation needed to take

responsibility for the environment.

Our unique model of citizen science, experiential learning

and engagement was showcased at Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP) 11 at

Hyderabad and also at 100th Session of National Science

Congress at Kolkata and at 105th Session of National Science

Congress at Manipur. The Institute focuses on applied research

that aligns with our national priorities, where we can most

effectively make a significant difference.

EWI works with academic and research institutions, centres

of excellence, government and non-government organisations,

corporations in developing projects and programmes.

Our programmes are aligned with National Missions and

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our aim is to maintain

high standards of research and learning in all our projects,

broadly guided by national priorities, and our basic philosophy

of supporting strong science and experiential learning through

skill development.

Knowledge Partners

Green Highways Division, NHAI3rd Floor, NHAI Extension (MTNL) BuildingSector-19, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110 075Phone - 011-28042449www.nationalgreenhighway.org

Earthwatch Institute IndiaAugusta Point (Level 4)Golf Course Road, Sector 53, Gurgaon 122002Phone- 0124-4354248www.EarthwatchIndia.org

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Innovations in Green Corridor planning