The Campaign

Use the inherent spiritual desire to earn merits and the symbolisms associated with it, to help cure the evils of irresponsible waste disposal.

Creative Execution

Sri Lanka has a 2500 year old Buddhist culture. The art inside and outside Temples narrate stories of good over evil, and the resultant merits. We judiciously researched and designed such stories that depict responsible garbage disposal as an act of piety. Inspired by the Buddhist practice of collecting merits -by making monetary offerings to temple tills- we then created special bins in the same shape to carry the message. These Donation Bins were placed all along the pilgrims’ route. We also embedded them in traditional chant sheets, that pilgrims recite throughout their 25,000 step journey.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Overall, three and half times more waste was collected from all garbage bins, while on average each of our special bins collected twice as much. Garbage was no longer garbage; it was an opportunity to amass merits by doing good, under the light of Lord Buddha.

The proposed idea had to respect the importance of the site, understand the deeper cultural nuances and take in to account the psychological framework of the pilgrims. Since a cross segment of devotees visit the mountain, young and veteran, we needed a solution that can be easily adapted and accepted. An organic conversion, from shifting a daily practice in to one of spiritual significance was ideal and doable.