Vivek Yadav

Crush, grind, and sift glass waste, and what you’ll get is: sand. It sounds straightforward, but it’s a process that isn’t yet widely implemented. In India, Vivek has been refining the idea. As a marketable product, his recycled sand could be used for filtration purposes and as an alternative in construction. Digging up natural sand — for the concrete that goes into buildings — is one of humankind’s biggest mining activities, with serious costs, damaging rivers and coastal ecosystems, and even wiping away entire islands. Vivek is putting gender-equity at the core of his project. Almost half of India’s informal waste collectors are women; they are often marginalized and unrewarded. As part of Vivek’s sand-from-glass project, they will generate additional income for themselves and their families, and develop skills in high-value recycling streams, while making an impactful contribution to sustainability.