Islamabad :Network of Organizations Working with People with Disabilities (NOWPDP) has launched in partnership with Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (PMPKL), an affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI), a recycling facility in Karachi to facilitate waste management and promote environmental sustainability. Run entirely by Persons with Disability, the facility employs 11 individuals including three women.
Working on the principles of reduce, reuse, and revive, the newly-launched facility creates an ecosystem to enable an end-to-end waste management solution. A network of drivers with waste collection vehicles have been created who collect waste from litter hotspots around the city. The waste is brought back to the recycling facility, where it is sorted and solid wastes, including plastic are broken down through a crushing process which is scheduled once a week, in view of environmental safety. They are then remodeled and revived into reusable items.
Omair Ahmed, CEO NOWPDP, also added, “While we have been working for the social and economic empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for years, we realized we also have a role to play for environmental sustainability. Bringing both of our objectives together, we have initiated this Upcycle campaign. The recycling facility will not only clean our city and conserve its environment, but it will also empower our Persons with Disabilities and will help to change the mindset surrounding their true abilities.”
Aside from trainings on waste management and recycling, the initiative deploys vehicles that collect waste from different parts of the city. These vehicles have been adapted to be inclusive of persons with disabilities. Once waste is collected, it is sorted at the facility, cleaned and then crushed into pellets. The pet bottles and crushed pellets, which are a high demand material, are sold directly to the market and also upcycled into items of everyday use. The textile division also promotes reusable cloth bags that are designed by the team and stitched by the trained individuals. Once fully trained, the individuals can earn an average monthly income of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.
Speaking at the launch of the facility, Sadia Dada, Director Communications PMPKL, said, “The challenge of littering is not new to our country nor the efforts to combat it. Lack of awareness and infrastructure for disposal are key drivers abetting this bad habit. We are very excited about this collaboration with NOWPDP which is not just about playing our part in anti-littering but to be working with such aspirational people to achieve this goal as well. We learnt so much in the process. Most importantly, how minor changes in the way we work can create room for each and every individual of society to be a part of it.”
This initiative is in line with PMI’s global efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, and also upholds PMI’s global commitment to 50% reduction of plastic waste from their products by the year 2025 vs a 2021 baseline. (https://www.pmi.com/sustainability/reducing-plastic-litter)
PMI CEO André Calantzopoulos last week joined The Valuable 500—a global movement putting disability inclusion on the business leadership agenda. Signing on to this initiative marks another significant step in PMI’s journey of advancing inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
André Calantzopoulos said: “Businesses with a global operating footprint, such as PMI, can make a meaningful impact by ensuring that everyone—including individuals with a disability—can prosper in the workplace. By signing The Valuable 500, I am proud to join forces with a host of other CEOs who are challenging their organizations and the business world to broaden the focus of their inclusion and diversity efforts, and to help create a more inclusive world for the 1.3 billion people with disabilities. This is the right thing to do as part of our broader work to create a more equitable society. And it is also the smart thing to do, allowing PMI to tap into a population of talented individuals whose diverse perspectives and life experiences will help us to unlock the creativity and innovation needed to propel us toward our vision of a smoke-free future.”
In 2021, as part of this commitment to action, PMI will (i) establish a Global Employee Resource Group on Disability as a forum through which to create a greater understanding of what it means to have a disability and build a shared sense of community and allyship among all employees; (ii) make its internal and external communication technologies more accessible to all; and (iii) reduce the prejudice and misunderstanding associated with disability, with a focus on mental health, to create a workplace in which individuals feel comfortable speaking openly about these topics.