Had the privilege of meeting Ms. Almitra Patel, recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for Environment in 2024, a pioneering environmentalist, biologist and chemist, and one of India’s most influential voices in solid waste management.

With an engineering degree from MIT, USA, she spent 31 years leading a refractory firm before dedicating herself to waste management. Since 1991, she has worked extensively towards improving India’s waste management practices.

Following the Surat plague, she joined the Clean India Campaigns and later filed a nationwide Public Interest Litigation (PIL) advocating hygienic waste management. Her efforts led to her appointment to a Supreme Court Committee on Solid Waste Management, which developed a comprehensive blueprint for reforms that contributed to India’s first Municipal Waste Management Rules.

Her work has consistently emphasized source segregation, door-to-door collection, recycling, reduction of landfill waste and sustainable management of organic waste. She has also travelled across 214 Indian cities, sharing and promoting better waste-management practices.

Meeting someone who has dedicated more than three decades to transforming India’s approach to waste management was truly inspiring.

♻️ Sharing Jagruth Tech’s journey

We also had the opportunity to update Ms. Almitra Patel about Jagruth Tech Pvt. Ltd. and our initiatives in sustainable waste management, particularly our work towards plastic waste upcycling and creating value from difficult-to-recycle plastic waste.

It was a wonderful opportunity to share that Jagruth Tech has received two international awards for its work and to introduce her to our vision of building practical, sustainable solutions for waste management.

Interactions like these are a reminder that meaningful environmental change is built through persistence, innovation and action.

Grateful for the opportunity to meet, learn and share our journey. 🌍♻️