Aditya Singh Chouhan

Indian environmental activist behind the 'Clean India Movement', transforming waste management practices

Aditya Singh Chouhan is an environmental engineer and social entrepreneur from India who pioneered the Clean India Movement. Since 2020, he has led innovative waste management projects in 200+ Indian cities, diverting 85% of municipal waste from landfills through his Zero Waste Cities initiative. His 2023 partnership with the World Economic Forum expanded these models to Southeast Asia.

Chouhan's breakthrough came with the Plastic to Gold program (2021), which converted 500 tons of ocean plastic into usable materials. This inspired the UNEP's Global Waste Innovation Prize, which he won in 2022. His 2024 invention, the Smart Segregation Bin, uses AI to automatically sort recyclables, now deployed in Mumbai's 100 largest markets.

His most impactful contribution is the River Revival Project, launched in 2023 to clean India's Ganges River. Using solar-powered boats and community education programs, this initiative reduced plastic pollution by 60% in Varanasi alone. Chouhan's work has inspired similar projects on the Nile and Amazon rivers.

Aditya's advocacy extends to policy change - his 2025 report Waste as Resource: India's Circular Economy Roadmap influenced new national legislation. He was awarded the Global Environmental Leadership Prize by the Clinton Foundation in 2024 and featured in National Geographic's 'Planet or Plastic?' series. His upcoming venture, EarthTech Labs, focuses on biodegradable packaging innovations set to launch in 2025.