Theme: Inspiring Ideas for a Clean Future

TEDxThar is hosting the Clean Environment and Waste Management TEDx Conference in Jaipur, India, with the objectives of discussing critical issues such as industry & government responsibility, sustainable recycling and strategies to catalyze waste reduction. TEDxThar seeks to identify emerging opportunities in the field of waste management, share & spread best ideas, case studies and innovative approaches towards waste management & finding enabling solutions to the challenges of waste management by involving key stakeholders.

We at TEDxThar strongly believe that urban India is likely to face a massive waste disposal problem in the coming years. Until now, the problem of waste has been seen as one of cleaning and disposing rubbish. But a closer look at the current and future scenario reveals that waste needs to be treated holistically, recognizing its natural resource roots as well as health impacts. TEDxThar is therefore creating a new paradigm for approaching this difficult issue of Waste Management and Clean Environment by inviting a chosen group of speakers and experts to discuss and implement ideas which are worth spreading.

The target audience of TEDxThar is a rich blend of Industries, Government & Non-governmental organisations, Waste Management & Environmental organisations, Academia & Research Institutions including Colleges & Schools, Environmental Media, planners & developers, Municipal & Civic Bodies & Students and intellectual followers through the medium of internet.

Indralok Auditorium
Narayan Singh Circle
Sawai Mansingh Road
Jaipur
India

Shaik Abdul Khadar

"Commissioner - Nandyal Municipality, Andhra Pradesh". Born in a small Vetapalem Village, of Prakasham District of Andhra Pradesh S A Khadar's journey for education and career both saw many upheavals. As eager to learn as a curious child in childhood, most education happened through distance education. Still a student and pursuing PhD in Public Administration along with a job- Commissioner – Nandyal Municipality. Worked in private sector in various levels after the secondary education until 1987 and got an opportunity to serve the public from July 1987 which started as a Stenographer and after 12 yrs got promoted as Commissioner of Suryapet, which went to receive first ISO 14001 certificate for Solid Waste Management. Since then have been Commissioner at five different places and also worked as Municipal Reforms Officer under state poverty elevation project and served at the state Directorate before sent back as Commissioner again of Nandyal Municipality. Participatory efforts of the Polity, Staff, Press and Public have achieved appreciable outputs which drawn many from different walks of life. A leadership which believed that everyone needs to be part of the process to make city environmentally healthy, changed the city forever.

Bharati Chaturvedi

"Founder of an India based non-profit organization, Chintan". Bharati’s work has revolved around reducing ecological footprints and increasing environmental justice. Amongst some best known work are its programmes with informal waste handlers and recyclers, wastepickers and its advocacy and research. She is part of various government committees for policy making, on such issues as solid waste, plastics, and social security for the informal sector. Bharati writes a column for the Hindustan Times and blogs with the Huffington Post. She has a Masters degree in History from Delhi University and a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She is the editor of ‘Finding Delhi : Loss and Renewal in the Megacity,’ published by Penguin India (October 2010), which has been on the bestseller top 10 in the non-fiction category for over two months. Bharati is the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Johns Hopkins Alumni “Knowledge for the World Award”. She has previously received the LEAD fellowship and is a fellow at the Synergos Institute, New York.

Anshu Sharma

"Co Founder, SEEDS Asia". Anshu spent two degrees formally learning development planning, and fifteen years, including a doctoral research, unlearning technology and trying to understand people's science around buildings, environment and life. He co-founded the NGO SEEDS (www.seedsasia.org and www.seedsindia.org) that works on community based environment and disaster management across Asia. He believes the best homes are those that are designed by people who will live in them, and that are build using local materials and technologies. He likes to play with mud, lime and bamboo, and is very scared of cement and steel. And he believes that you already have the answer; you may just not be aware of that fact.

Sanjay K Gupta

"Waste Ventures". Sanjay K Gupta has more than a decade of experience in waste management, recycling and livelihood issues. He has a PhD from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has been trained in Integrated Process in Water and Sanitation in Sweden, Egypt and Netherlands. He has worked as an Advisor and Consultant with WSP-World Bank, USAID, Care India, UN-Habitat, Swiss Red Cross, Waste Netherlands and is currently with Waste Ventures Charities, an international Not for Profit Organisation. He has worked with the development sector, corporate houses on CSR, state governments and municipalities, and has established more than 120 small and medium enterprises for waste management services and recycling resource centers. These interventions have created more than 6,000 jobs for waste pickers, keeping the improvement of informal sector livelihood as the focus. He comes from the tea gardens of Assam and the journey of his education included Allahabad, Delhi, Sweden, USA and Egypt. He has written several internationally published papers on waste issues, spoken in more than 20 countries and co-authored leading books in the sector such as Millennium Development Goals and Solid Waste Management, and Status of Solid Waste in World Cities for UN-Habitat. The latter won the best book on the subject award from the International Solid Waste Association. He is also an elected core committee member of the Collaborative Working Group for solid waste management in Middle and Low Income Countries, based in Switzerland. Dr. Gupta works very closely with national and international networks such as Global Action for Incinerator Alternatives, Zero Waste Alliance and Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers.

Krish Murali Eswar

"Co Founder & CEO - ZED Labs, BCIL". Krish Murali started out as a software engineer and moved into innovation space in 2003 after over two decades in the IT outsourcing and consulting industry. After his executive education in Harvard Business School he was inspired to look into the innovation methodologies and has authored a process of innovation. Using his process he routinely comes up with ideas for better products, processes and businesses. Last year he co-founded the Zed Labs for BCIL group and continues to support it wherever necessary as its Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board. His ideas often questions the status quo and pushes the team to think beyond the obvious. Million seedball was one such program that he helped design which became quickly popular in Bangalore as a novel means of afforestation. Gubbi Goodu, a novel program to bring back the sparrows, made it into many media recently. He is a regular speaker in green building and sustainability space.

P. Parthasarathy

"Director, E-Parisaraa ". Parthasarathy is a Post Graduate in Chemical Engineering from IIT in Chennai. He has worked for Singapore based e-waste recycler and started E-Parisaraa Pvt. Ltd. in Dobaspet which is 50km from Bangalore during 2004 for electronic waste management for first time in India with low cost & cleaner technologies. E-Parisaraa is located and engaged mainly in resource recovery of metals, plastics and glass in an environmental friendly way. E-Parisaraa is certified ISO 14001-2004 E-Parisaraa adopted non-incineration methodology, labor intensive and not capital -intensive operation, and has bagged a many prestigious awards. Parthasarathy has about 30 years experience in the field of precious metals coating and recovery. He was awarded Best Electroplater Award -2003 by the Society for Advancement of Electrochemical Science and Technology (CECRI), Karaikudi and N.M. SAMPAT AWARD -2004 by the Electrochemical Society of 2001 to 2004.

C Srinivasan

"Project Director,INIDAN GREEN SERVICE (IGS)". Srinivasan graduated in Mathematics at Voorhees College, Vellore, University of Madras and participated at International Environmental Training Programme-WA, USA as the only Indian Corps Member of King County World Conservation Corps in Cascadia Quest, Seattle, USA. He was awarded ASHOKA Fellowship in 2003 by Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Washington DC, USA. He Also received Association for India’s Development, (AID, US), AID-Saathi Fellowship Award (2005- 2010), Prerna-Social Entrepreneurship Award at Manfest 2011, I.I.M, Lucknow & Environment Management Award by Tamil Nadu Government. He has a vast experience in SLRM Projects across India, namely Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim Maharashtra &, Bangalore. For the last more than 20 years he has been designing and coordinating various environmental projects across India. Srinivasan is one of the most inspiring figures in waste management in India and is a real change maker.