Varun Hiremath’s Green Change Program Empowers Youth to Tackle Waste in Rural Maharashtra

Varun Hiremath's Green Change Program Empowers Youth to Tackle Waste in Rural Maharashtra

Latest News on Varun Hiremath: The World Environment Day Launch Triggers a Rush of Eco Action by Young People

Pune, Maharashtra – June 5, 2025 | World Environment Day –

In the world where environmental issues are becoming a matter of urgency, Varun Hiremath and Hiremath Family Foundation are rising to the challenge of creating change by empowering the youth. The Foundation marked World Environment day by launching its first major environmental project, Green Change, which would help to inculcate environmental responsibility in schoolchildren in rural Maharashtra. This grassroots movement does not only concern itself with the management of waste but also involves empowering the children to be leaders of their villages in changing their environmental situation.

Empowering the Young People to Take the Initiative Towards a Cleaner Future

This year theme of Our Land Our Future is emphasized by the Green Change program that was introduced together with World Environment Day. Since the future of the globe lies with the upcoming generation, the initiative will involve children who need to take the control of their immediate environment by designing waste-management schemes. The leader of this initiative is a 14-year-old Class 9 student, Sakshi Pawar, a village Bhugaon, near Pune, who has become a role model of the rural youth leadership.

Sakshi was trained by the Hiremath Family Foundation a few weeks ago, and she has become the leader of installing a compost pit in her school that is currently processing the organic waste of more than 50 households in her village. Her initiative has already decreased wet waste by more than 60 percent and has motivated more than 30 students to become like her in a brief moment of time. The dream of Sakshi is to clean up her entire taluka (sub-district) and make it plastic-free, and she is well underway towards the achievement of the goal.

As Sakshi puts it with a reserved authority, it is about bringing change where it is most needed and that is right here in our villages. This is because despite the time and energy expended in the program, the end result is that the youth in the program are empowered in ways that they are able to make a real difference in their respective communities.

A Model for Youth-Led Environmental Change

Varun Hiremath, Co-Founder of the Hiremath Family Foundation, stated that youth leadership should play a key role in environmental action. He said, in the launch of the program, that, real change begins in small hands and young hearts. It was not only a day to plant trees but also to plant leadership in our young people on this World Environment Day. That is what Green Change is all about."

The Green Change program is based on a three-phased approach which gives the children the tools and knowledge they require to become leaders of sustainable waste management::

• Eco-Literacy Workshops: Such workshops inform children on the significance of segregating wastes, composting, and recycling. It equips them with the basic information that they need to address the problem of waste in their villages.
• School Activations: During this step, students will perform a zero-waste audit, install waste separation bins, and initiate awareness campaigns. Their work assists in establishing a sustainability culture within school, which is the foundation of community engagement on a greater scale.
• Village Integration: The student groups work with the local Panchayats (village councils) to introduce sustainable waste management models in their respective villages. This partnership is useful in determining the sustainability of the waste management activities they start.

So far, over 1,200 children in 15 villages in Maharashtra have been engaged in the program, and nine villages are already replicating the compost model initiated by Sakshi. The effect is becoming increasing and local citizens are taking part on a regular basis on Sundays in student-led eco-sessions and actively taking part in the initiative.

The Energy of the Youth: a Movement

The Green Change program is not just a set of workshops, but the movement that is driven by the energy and will of the youngest generation of India. Varun Hiremath sees the future of education when children are not just consumers of education but will be producers of a better and more sustainable world.

Varun says “In our opinion, children are not the future, they are the present.” This is the movement we are giving to Mother Earth with the force of her young warriors.

Students under the Green Change program in a very motivating show of participation in the cause organized a symbolic Clean to Green March on the morning of World Environment Day. The march held in the participating villages was a visual account of the commitment of the youth to the preservation of the planet. Students sported hand-painted badges with the words Bhoomi Meri Jimmedari (My Earth, My Responsibility) written on them, thus indicating their communal responsibility towards the environment.

The Emerging Influence of the Hiremath Family Foundation

Green Change is not the only program initiated by the Hiremath Family Foundation that operates in the field of rural education, health, digital access, and sustainability. The Foundation is not only offering quick fix solutions but communities are being empowered to change on a long-term basis through its various programs. Through environmental leadership among children, Varun Hiremath and his foundation are not only creating a sustainable future, but doing so village by village.

The effectiveness of the Green Change program shows that the long term commitment to youth leadership can also achieve long term environmental change. The Hiremath Family Foundation is not only educating children on the significance of sustainability and waste management but also guaranteeing that the current generation of leaders will be the environmental stewards of the future.

Hiremath Family Foundation About

The Hiremath Family Foundation is a non-profit that strives to make a good change in the rural India. It is dedicated to education, healthcare, access to digital, and sustainability. The Foundation has many programs that enable the youth to become leaders who can bring about sustainable changes in their villages through green change and other programs so that everyone will live in a cleaner and healthier environment.

The Green Change initiative is one of the brightest examples of how empowerment of the younger generation can lead to the greater social and environmental change. With the movement expanding, more and more children such as Sakshi Pawar are coming forward to claim the future of their villages-and the world.