Saurabh Gupta, is a former monk and founder of Earth5R.  
It all started when he was working as an HR officer with Cafe Coffee Day India. Fed up with the corporate life, and taking on from an office prank Saurabh quit his job and went on cycling across three continents. In Nov 2014 when he finished 50,000 km he decided to start an organisation that engages citizens into action rather than complaining.   
 
This phase started with what Saurabh calls “Getting his own home in order, because home equals planet”.
He got on a mission of reducing his own waste, making sure any waste generated was sorted and recycled. He worked on reducing emissions by taking up low carbon lifestyle and eventually influencing his neighbours and locality into taking action. 
His movement transformed when he started engaging with local citizen by building a small organisation Earth5R. In a few months thousands of college youth got engaged with Earth5R into community activities like local clean-up programs with plastic waste recovery, recycling while generating green jobs. Within one year Earth5R expanded activities from Mumbai to other cities across India.
 
Since then Earth5R has been dedicated to promoting Circular Economy, Reducing Plastic Waste, Improving Livelihoods, and promoting UN Sustainable Development Goals. Earth5R operates through a globally recognised ecosystem of Citizen-led Actions and Technology led solutions like AI for Sustainability. 
Earth5R helps companies reduce, and offset their plastic footprint and emissions while empowering local circular economy projects. 
Now we are running programs across 53 countries with the help of 65,000 plus citizen volunteers and a network of Schools, Universities, NGOs, Municipalities and Local Governments.
A two times TEDx speaker, Saurabh Gupta has delivered hundreds of keynotes to audiences worldwide and is often featured as an expert in major media, including CNBC, National Geographic, Times of India, The Asian Entrepreneur.
 
The Impact:
* 1.2 Million families have been educated in circular economy related livelihood skills so far. 
* 600 Tons of Organic Waste per month processed by Composting Units Installed in Mumbai with help of Earth5R
* 1700 Residential buildings in India turned Zero Waste with help of Earth5R programs
* 250 Tons of Plastic Waste os collected every month and Recycled in Mumbai with help of Earth5R citizen led programs 
 
Recognitions and Awards:
* Earth5R has recently been selected by The United Nations for 5th Global Entreps Award – The ‘Oscars of Sustainability’. 
* Earth5R project has been endorsed by the French President Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of Costa Rica/ UN Champions of the Earth- Mr. Carlos Alvarado, and 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ouided Bouchamaoui.
* Earth5R created the ecosystem for Plastic recovery and recycling of Ocean bound plastic at Mumbai,  in partnership with United Nations Technology Innovation Labs/ United Nations Global Pulse. The project received 0.7 Million USD funding.
* Earth5R was selected for the Paris Peace Forum where Saurabh Gupta got the opportunity to present the project to 70 heads of nations. Networking with global leaders has helped Earth5R to kickstart our projects in several countries around the globe. 
* Saurabh Gupta received appreciation from His Holiness The Dalai Lama for his work related to the youth community on Project ‘Ganga to Nile’.
* Saurabh Gupta was selected for the “Young Leaders India-France” Award by the French President Emmanuel Macron.
* Earth5R received an appreciation from the Secretary-General of United Nations and Portugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres
* Earth5R received appreciation from Carlos Alvarado, President of Costa Rica, and UN Champion of the Earth.