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As part of its Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) programme, ITC Limited celebrated the third anniversary of 'National Recycling Day' with more than 15,000 school children, over 500 delegates from the state government and the corporate sector, NGOs, professors, educational institutes as well as countless citizens in the city of Bengaluru today. Pioneered by ITC in 2010, the National Recycling Day is a one-of-its-kind initiative in the world, and has today gained widespread support and recognition across various sections of society.

Shri Ramalinga Reddy, Minister for Transport & Bengaluru City, Govt. of Karnataka inaugurated the event along with other Guests of Honour - Shri R. V. Devraj, Member of Legislative Assembly, Chickpet Constituency; Shri P.N. Sadashiva, Corporator, Sunkenahalli Ward; Shri Venkatesh Murthy, Mayor, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Shri Lakshminarayana, IAS, Commissioner, BBMP. The dignitaries also shared their views on the significance of Recycling and effective waste management. The discussion enlightened and inspired the gathering to consolidate their efforts to preserve precious natural resources and understand the value of waste regeneration.

To build upon the Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) programme, ITC associated with Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) and launched 'WOW for Rag-pickers' in 12 selected wards of Bengaluru. The programme aims to create sustainable livelihoods for Rag-pickers and Waste Collectors by propagating Source Segregation at all levels of society and facilitating effective collection mechanisms to maximise recycling of dry waste. The programme will cover all segments like households, offices, shops, schools, educational institutions, malls, supermarkets, banks, hotels and hospitals. The pilot programme also seeks to ensure collection of post-consumer FMCG waste, which has today become a major source of litter in the city. It is also expected that increasing the quantum of dry recyclable waste, will substantially improve the incomes of rag-pickers and municipal workers. In addition, BBMP will also support this initiative by providing Dry Waste collection Centres in each ward and ensuring that waste segregation is strictly implemented by their staff in each ward.

Appreciating ITC & BBMP for the initiative and the audience for their participation in the programme, Shri Ramalinga Reddy, Minister for Transport & Bengaluru City, Govt. of Karnataka remarked, "At the outset, let me congratulate M/s ITC Limited and BBMP for creating a platform to propagate the idea of source segregation of dry and wet waste among the general public across the society, by making Paura Karmikas (PKs) and rag pickers as the brand ambassadors, thereby creating employment for under privileged people and improving their living conditions and bettering their socio-economic status.I wish ITC and BBMP all the success in their endeavour in making Bengaluru clean and green."

In line with ITC's sustainability practices, ITC's WOW programme implemented by its Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division aims to create awareness among general public about the "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" to protect and restore the environment, inculcates the habit of source segregation amongst the general public, school children, corporates and people from every walk of life.

The pilot programme to include BBMP workers and rag-pickers was kick started on 20th June, 2013 with environmental quiz programmes, painting competitions, recyclables collection campaigns, road shows and slogan contests covering the entire city of Benguluru. These efforts have gone a long way to create large-scale awareness towards making the city clean and green.

Present at the occasion, Mr Pradeep Dhobale, Executive Director, ITC Limited said, "We are happy to celebrate the third anniversary of the 'National Recycling Day' and the extensive support from all stakeholders including schools, corporate bodies and state government is a testimony to the positive impact of this programme on the city and its people. The Wealth Out of Waste initiative, which propagates the concept of recycling and waste management is an integral part of ITC's multi-dimensional sustainability initiatives. This programme reinforces our commitment to the triple bottom line philosophy of creating social and environmental capital for the nation. On behalf of ITC, I would like to thank BBMP and the Govt. of Karnataka for supporting us to the fullest in making this programme a huge success."

ITC's Consumer Goods Businesses, including Foods, Personal Care Products and Education and Stationery Products, are also actively participating with ITC's Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division to support this landmark initiative.

Today, the ITC WOW programme is operational in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Cochin. What started with just 10MT collection of recyclables through the WOW collection has now swelled to over 4000MT/month. Over 3 million citizens, 500,000 school children, 350 corporates, over 1,000 commercial establishments and about 200 industries are supporting WOW across South India. This in turn helps augment green cover, conserve scarce natural resources and make the environment clean and healthy. The initiative has also created livelihood opportunities for over 4,000 underprivileged people.