Most people watch documentaries and move on. But when Mana Shah watched An Inconvenient Truth, it stirred something deeper. “The visuals stayed with me — especially the part about coastal cities like Mumbai being at risk,” she recalls. That moment marked the beginning of a journey that would eventually reshape how Mumbai handles its waste.
In 2010, Mana founded Green Practices, a sustainability-driven initiative focused on one big mission — transforming the way urban India thinks about, treats, and manages waste.
With a background in eco-tech and the determination to find real solutions, she began working with scientists to develop a smarter composting system. “The traditional method takes up to six months,” she says. “We brought it down to one.” The key? A special microbial culture that speeds up the process, making composting viable even in space-crunched urban areas.
Today, Green Practices handles over 500 tonnes of organic waste every month, collected from over 50 residential societies, corporates like Reliance and Swiggy, and other large institutions. The model is simple but powerful — waste is collected, composted, and the resulting compost is returned to the contributors at no extra cost. All for just ₹100 a month.
But it’s not just about processing waste. For Mana, the real win is in shifting behaviour. “Convincing people to segregate their waste is still a challenge,” she admits. “But once they understand the impact — when they see their own food scraps turn into something useful — the mindset begins to shift.”
And that shift is exactly what Mana is after. She believes that once people feel connected to the process, they’re more likely to stay committed. That’s why Green Practices isn’t just a service — it’s a movement. One that empowers citizens to take responsibility for their waste, and actively participate in the solution.
Her impact has started to ripple outward. Children are learning about composting. Societies are turning their gardens lush with homegrown compost. Corporate campuses are reducing landfill contributions drastically. All because someone dared to reimagine the journey of a banana peel.
Of course, there have been hurdles — operational challenges, lack of awareness, and resistance to change. But Mana meets it all with quiet resilience. “You just have to keep showing up. Keep talking. Keep planting the seed,” she smiles.
And that’s what makes her story powerful — it’s rooted in hope. Hope that sustainability can be simple. Hope that even in a fast-paced, high-rise city like Mumbai, circular systems can thrive. Hope that change, real change, begins with a single conscious action.
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