By ImpactLens Correspondent
Pune: A pile of plastic waste seen along the roads during the Wari pilgrimage last year has now grown into a youth-led environmental movement. On International Youth Day, the Green Youth Movement (GYM) was formally launched in Pune, bringing young people together to take greater responsibility for waste management and local environmental action.
The initiative, being implemented by Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA) in partnership with Terre des Hommes (TDH), will run from 2026 to 2029. The launch at Patrakar Bhavan brought together environmental activists, civil society representatives, public representatives and young people.
Former Rajya Sabha member Adv. Vandana Chavan, who has worked on environmental issues for nearly three decades, called for greater youth participation in addressing the climate crisis. She pointed out that climate change does not affect everyone equally. While wealthier households may have access to air conditioners and coolers to cope with rising temperatures, poorer communities often have fewer options to deal with extreme heat.
Adv. Chavan said environmental concerns go beyond waste management and are closely linked to changing lifestyles and growing carbon footprints. Referring to climate activist Greta Thunberg and the global climate movement, she urged young people to understand the larger environmental crisis and translate that awareness into action in their own communities. She stressed that waste segregation, recycling and responsible consumption must become part of everyday life.
Adv. Avinash Salve, Corporator, Yerwada, welcomed the launch and highlighted the role of young people in taking ownership of environmental concerns. He said the Green Youth Movement could provide youth with a platform to work collectively on issues affecting their communities and contribute to a cleaner Pune.
Mrs Sumayya Nadaf, Corporator, Pune Station, congratulated the organisers and encouraged young people to participate in the movement actively.
Dr Namrata Jaitli, Regional Coordinator, TDH India, said the energy of young people could play an important role in building a cleaner and developed India. She stressed the importance of youth participation in waste management and wider adoption of the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3Rs). TDH, she said, would also explore ways to take the learnings from the initiative to other locations where it works.
A movement born from a Wari experience
The idea behind the Green Youth Movement emerged during the Wari pilgrimage in July 2025. Recalling the experience, Mr Pravin Jadhav, Executive Director of CYDA, said he travelled to Dehu with CYDA founder Mr Mathew Mattam and witnessed large quantities of plastic waste left along the roads after the pilgrimage. An estimated three to four tonnes of plastic waste had accumulated. Although CYDA was already working on waste management, the experience highlighted the need for stronger youth involvement. “That thought became the stepping stone for the Green Youth Movement,” Mr Jadhav said.
A year after the experience that sparked the idea, the Green Youth Movement has now been formally launched. Over the next three years, CYDA and TDH plan to engage young people in waste management, environmental awareness and local action. The idea took a concrete form during this year’s Wari. From July 7 to 24, around 497 young people participated in the pilgrimage and collected around 7,139 kg of plastic waste.
Waste management as a community responsibility
Addressing the gathering, Mr Mathew Mattam, Founder of CYDA, said waste management cannot be left to government agencies and sanitation workers alone. Those who generate waste, he said, must also take responsibility for how it is managed. He stressed that segregation at source can reduce the amount of waste transported and lower the cost of waste management. Properly collected dry waste can also become an economic resource, creating opportunities for processing, value addition and employment.
Mr Mattam pointed to CYDA’s experience of working with communities, government agencies and partners in Rajkot, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Kakatpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Together, these initiatives have covered more than 40,000 households. “The attitude towards waste needs to change,” Mr Mattam said, emphasising the need to introduce children to waste segregation and responsible waste management from an early age.
A call to act, not just be aware
Closing the programme, Ms Diksha Mehtre, Coordinator of the Green Youth Movement, urged young participants to think about how future generations might judge the choices being made today. She asked what today’s youth would say 20 years from now if they were asked why they failed to act when there was still time to protect the planet. She called on young people to move beyond awareness and take concrete action by joining the Green Youth Movement and taking ownership of environmental issues in their own communities.
The launch marks the beginning of a three-year effort to turn youth participation into sustained environmental action. The Green Youth Movement will encourage young people to take ownership of waste management and other environmental challenges in their communities, while working with residents, civil society organisations and government agencies to build a cleaner and more sustainable Pune.
