Expo Live awards $100k grants to Indian projects

Yousuf Caires, vice-president, Expo Live at Expo 2020 Dubai, says that Expo Live regularly scouts for and backs sustainability innovations from around the world.

Expo 2020 Dubai's global social impact programme, Expo Live, is highlighting initiatives that are designed to protect the environment, in line with this World Environment Day's theme to 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.
Expo Live has announced that it has awarded grants worth up to $100,000 to two Indian projects called Saathi Eco Innovations India and Kabadiwalla Connect. Both these projects are designed to reduce single-use plastic, which is one of the most significant environmental challenges of our time. Over half of the plastic that is used around the world is single use, and nearly one-third of plastic packaging escapes collection systems.
Yousuf Caires, vice-president, Expo Live at Expo 2020 Dubai, says that Expo Live regularly scouts for and backs sustainability innovations from around the world. "The challenge of reducing how much plastic we use everyday is a big one. We believe that there is no one big solution that will solve everything, but a series of smaller targeted solutions and innovations that will contribute significantly to making a positive impact."
Saathi Eco Innovations India has developed eco-friendly Saathi Pads, a 100 per cent biodegradable sanitary pad made of locally-sourced banana fibre, that will degrade in six months. The company's biodegradable pads have so far helped save 6.25 tonnes of plastic waste and 7.36 tonnes of CO2 emissions. With the support of the Expo Live grant, the Saathi team is scaling up operations and contributing to their '1 million pad project' in rural India by supplying pads for an additional 1,000 women.
Kabadiwalla Connect's mission is to divert urban India's waste away from landfill, helping to cut CO2 emissions as well as increase income opportunities for small scrap dealers. Of the 70 million tonnes of waste generated by urban India each year, more than 90 per cent is sent to landfill. The waste is rich in organic content and contains a significant amount of recyclable material.
Kabadiwalla Connect is developing sensor-enabled smart bins that send alerts when they reach capacity. By connecting one user to four smart bins, the firm can increase a scrap dealer's yield by up to 100kg per week, boosting their income while diverting plastic waste away from landfill.
Caires also noted that Expo Live's support of such initiatives are in line with Expo 2020's theme of sustainability. "Sustainability today is on everyone's mind; we want to show that it is possible to maintain human innovation, but not at the cost of the environment. The Dubai Expo 2020 is a valuable opportunity for us to showcase this through the support that we are giving such projects."
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com