The campaign was started after we saw a bitch dying in the street due to polythene consumption. The campaign initially was small, and local which became big after more and more people joined hands with us. To start with SPECS members and volunteers contacted people from all sections of the society and collected about 10,000 responses on polythene and how it impacts us as individuals and society as a larger level. These responses were collated, analyzed, presented in the form of a report and shared in the workshop. The invitees to the workshop included representatives of the government departments, the municipal corporation, scientists from various disciplines, students as well as general public. The sharing and deliberations at the workshop enhanced the body of knowledge and information on polythene and resulted in unanimous conclusion that there is an urgent need to curtail the use of polythene, if not entirely elimination.

The participation of a couple of scientists from IIT New Delhi at the workshop led SPECS to go a step further, understand, create and implement a “garbage management model” at the Wildlife Institute of India. Now it is built in the SPECS campus in village Kandoli on the outskirts of Dehradun. The model sought segregation of degradable and non-degradable waste, and its disposal is managed with the help of rag pickers. The model was replicated in some of the residential schools as well.