CREASION, with the support of European Union, organized the National launch of project GreenShift Nepal, a project aimed to promote a just transition to circular economy.
The event was held at the grounds of regional office of CREASION in Bharatpur, Chitwan, marking the project's official commencement. GreenShift Nepal is a four-year project which will be implemented in 9 municipalities – 3 in each of Bagmati, Madhesh, and Lumbini provinces. The project implementation is led by CREASION through the consortium partners Restless Development, and Youth Innovation Lab (YI-LAB).
The event started with a formal session with a warm welcome to all the distinguished guests by Sujata Koirala, General Secretary of CREASION and two Student representatives from one of our Waste Smart Schools in Bharatpur. The welcome remarks highlighted the importance of a collective effort towards achieving circularity of plastic waste. Further, the event marked the official launch of the project by watering a plant in a recycled pot, stressing the importance of Shifting towards Circular Economy and its relation to biodiversity.
Furthermore, the presentation session started with Yunish Ghimire, Project Lead of GreenShift Nepal, from CREASION Sabin Dotel Waste Smart Fellow Coordinator, Youth Innovation Lab,Sangita Maharjan from Restless Development. They introduced the project, giving a detailed walk through of the project areas, project objectives target groups and beneficiaries and the timeline of the project and the detailed components and activities. The presentation summed up the overall project and what it aims to achieve over four years.
Further, Eloisa Astudillo, Deputy Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, emphasized the importance of harnessing the vitality of youth to promote circularity of plastic waste, a priority issue for the EU. She expressed her eagerness to witness transformative efforts in the three provinces of the projects in the coming four years duration.
Further, speaking at the event, Prashant Bista, Mayor of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City, provided his special remarks, emphasizing more efforts and projects like such and importance of youths towards promoting a sustainable future for all.
Ganesh Shah, Former Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, expressed his eagerness with the commencement of the project and shared his experience in the environment and waste management sector in Nepal.
In another special remarks, Masina Khadka, Hon’ble Minister of Forest and Environment, Bagmati Province, expressed her happiness of seeing such collective effort to tackle issues of waste management and waste workers in Nepal. She expressed her eagerness of wanting to see the positive changes the project will bring in the coming years and expressed her full support to the project.
Aanand Mishra, Founder and President of CREASION, concluded the event with gratitude to the EU and other partners, affirming the organization's dedication to promoting circularity of plastic waste for Net-Zero carbon Nepal, emphasizing the importance of collective and compassion-based effort of all.
Further, sustainable gifts were handed to the special guests.
The event shifted towards an informal session with a tour of the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) inside the CREASION Regional office, showcasing our commitment towards plastic circularity.
The grounds of the regional office were also filled with 10 different climate smart entrepreneur stalls, such as Kanduk Industry, Eco-Revive, Kleanit Nepal, showcasing their eco-friendly and sustainable products, one of which were also a stall from CREASION showcasing our jackets made from 100% recycled PET bottles.
On top of that, there was also a table with Recycled plant pots where guests planted their own selected plants in recycled pots and took them home with them.
The event ended with interactive, engaging sessions with meaningful connections and networking, all for a collective vision, to promote just transition towards Circular Economy.
