162 Kg of Waste Cleared. A Green Sweep With the Mahila Mandal
The next morning, the slope team met the women near the Indiahikes campus. Siddharth from the team introduced Indiahikes, shared the plan for the day, and handed out eco-bags for the cleanup.
The group got to work, and in less than an hour, they had cleared 162 kilos of waste.
But the real success of the morning lay in what happened during the cleanup. Every slope team member took time to speak with the villagers — to share what Indiahikes stands for, what Green Trails means, and why sustainability is central to everything we do.
After the cleanup, the Mahila Mandal was invited to the Indiahikes campus for tea and snacks. It was a simple gesture, but it opened space for a deeper conversation. The team shared more about:
- Indiahikes’ presence in Manali
- The slope team’s role
- The work that happens behind every trek
- And most importantly, how waste can be handled better at a village level
Two clear ideas were introduced:
- Avoid burning collected or daily waste
- Start segregating waste before disposal
They have questions. Their concerns were practical, and all of them were valid. The team responded with suggestions and assured them of continued support. They also committed to working with the Pradhan Ji to co-create solutions that last.
For the slope team, this was more than a cleanup. It was a chance to build trust — to show up with clarity and purpose.
A Look at the Larger Effort
This green sweep at Manali is just a small part of something much bigger at Indiahikes. Similar community outreach efforts are happening across our slopes — in Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Himachal. Because we’ve seen this time and again — real change doesn’t come from one-off cleanups. It happens when local communities are involved, when they take the lead, and when there’s a slow but steady shift in behaviour and systems. That’s the kind of change we’re working towards.
