“Sustainability is not someone else’s job!”

From composting kitchen waste to aligning staff mindsets, Mana Shah, Founder of Green Practices, is helping hotels walk the talk on sustainability.

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As the BMC prepares to implement revised solid waste management bylaws, which introduce user fees and stricter enforcement, the conversation around urban waste is shifting from infrastructure to accountability. For the hospitality sector, this marks a crucial moment to reassess operations and lead by example in sustainable waste practices.

Mana Shah is founder of Green Practices. This Mumbai-based waste management company collaborates closely with hotels and large-scale hospitality venues like Hilton, Lalit, and The Beatle to design and implement transparent, decentralised waste management systems. Green Practices helps institutions establish efficient source segregation and recycling programmes, with an emphasis on transparency, compliance, and long-term cost-effectiveness. Shah is deeply embedded in the practical side of urban waste logistics.

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW...

What inspired you to start Green Practices? Was there a specific incident or realisation that sparked your journey into waste management?

For me, it wasn't one dramatic incident, but a series of small awakenings. Watching the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' by the former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore was definitely a turning point. It jolted me out of my comfort zone. Around the same time, I visited Auroville and saw firsthand how waste wasn't just tolerated or pushed aside, it was transformed. Waste as a resource. Waste as life. As a mother of two, I couldn't un-see it. I couldn't allow my children to grow up in a world where we normalise not treating our waste properly. I knew I had to act and build something that could protect the environment in which my children were growing up. That's how Green Practices was born.