Turning Off the Tap on Waste: What years of river work taught me about prevention

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Mission City Chakra presents a scalable, upstream model that prevents waste at source by working with schools, institutions, workplaces, and system influencers. From Cleaning Rivers to Turning Off the Tap on Waste I co-founded Jeevitnadi in 2014 with a simple but urgent concern: our rivers were choking on garbage. During our work on river stretches, …

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Why Waste Reduction Has Stalled at Cloth Bags — And Why We Need to Go Much Further

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Everyone agrees waste reduction is better than recycling. Yet our actions stop at cloth bags. Aditi Deodhar invites you to discover untapped waste reduction ideas with Mission City Chakra. Refuse and Reduce: Everyone Agrees — But Why Aren’t We Acting? Ask any sustainability expert, policymaker, or waste professional a simple question: Is waste reduction better …

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Why Plastic Products should Carry Health Warning

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Why Plastic Tiffins Should Carry a Health Warning 1. Plastic Tiffins Are Food-Contact Materials — Yet Poorly Regulated Plastic containers directly contact food every day — often hot, oily, or acidic food that increases chemical migration. Most tiffins sold in India are made from polypropylene (PP), LDPE, or mixed plastics, and are rarely tested batch-wise …

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When Correlation Is Clear, Policy Must Act: Plastic’s Warning Signs

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Discover how some of the biggest public-health breakthroughs—from smoking bans to lead-free petrol—were achieved not with perfect proof, but with powerful correlations. History shows that waiting for 100% certainty costs lives. Today, plastics and microplastics pose the same kind of threat, whether through tiffin boxes, water bottles, or everyday sachets. The Window for Preventive Action …

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The Day New York Quit: Bloomberg’s Blueprint for Change

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How Bloomberg Made NYC Smoke-Free: A Policy Breakthrough Discover how Mayor Bloomberg transformed New York City with a bold, evidence-driven smoking ban—an iconic case of successful public health policy. New York City Before the Bloomberg Smoking Ban: A Snapshot of a Smoky Era Before New York City became a global model for smoke-free public policy, …

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How a Community Brought a Dead Stream Back to Life — One Sunday at a Time

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Discover how a simple, low-cost, community-led wetland restoration project at Vitthalwadi revived freshwater flow in the Mutha riverbed. A replicable model based on systems thinking, ecological principles, and citizen action. By Aditi, the initiator of ‘Adopt a River Stretch Program, Jeevitnadi’ If you ever want to understand how cities slowly lose their rivers, don’t look …

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How Pune Turned Its “Brown Problem” Into a Green Revolution

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A Story of Dry Leaves, Human Ingenuity, and a City That Refused to Burn. By Aditi, the accidental leaf–matchmaker Burning leaves causes smoke, asthma, and fire hazards. The Brown Leaf Project shows how Pune residents can mulch, compost, or donate dry leaves—turning waste into a resource. Every Green City Has a Brown Side — And …

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A school bag with a plastic tiffin in it

The Most Dangerous Thing in a Child’s Schoolbag — And How We Decided to Eliminate It, Bloomberg Style

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Aditi Deodhar writes about the hidden health danger inside children’s schoolbags—plastic tiffin boxes—and how Pune schools are adopting a Bloomberg-style approach to protect child health through simple, high-leverage school policies. Introduction: The Danger No One Sees If you had asked me a few years ago what the most dangerous thing in a child’s schoolbag is, …

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HEALTH WARNING ON THE CIGARETTE PACK AND WHY THEY SHOULD BE ON PLASTIC PRODUCTS

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In the mid-1900s, cigarette packs began to change — not their contents, but their conscience. What was once a symbol of style and freedom slowly became a warning label for an entire generation. This blog traces this transformation — from glamour to grim truth — showing how policy, science, and public awareness turned a dangerous …

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People drinking tea from paper cups

How Local Leadership Can Make City Streets Paper-Cup Free

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Across Indian cities, bustling market streets like Pune’s Laxmi Road witness thousands of paper cups discarded daily — small but persistent contributors to plastic waste, clogged drains, and greenhouse emissions. These “single-use” items appear harmless but create massive hidden costs for urban sustainability and public health. Under the Mission City Chakra initiative by the Centre …

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