New Delhi: 51-year-old Kriti Dixit from Delhi has been living with a mantra ‘my waste is my responsibility’, she along with her family has been practising waste segregation for many years. Wet waste, comprising mainly kitchen waste is kept separate from dry waste which includes wood, paper, packaging related products, metals and glass. But, Kriti’s effort of separating waste goes down the drain every morning when she gives her segregated waste to the waste collector. At the collection stage itself, the different types of garbage get mixed up and drop it at the local garbage dump from where this accumulated waste is transported and further adds to the pile-up at the landfills.
Kriti is not alone, there are thousands like her. To help people like Kriti and inspire others to start managing their own waste, there are many startups that are doing their bit.
Here are some of the waste management startups to help people manage their waste scientifically and in the process to save the planet from drowning in its own waste.
A Useless Device For Someone Can Turn Into A Useful Device For Another, Namo E-waste Mantra
According to the United Nations report – the world generated 44.7 million tonnes of electronic waste in 2016 — equivalent to the weight of some 4,500 Eiffel Towers. And, our country’s contribution to it was 2 million tonnes making India the fifth most e-waste producing country, after US, China, Japan and Germany. The problem is that e-waste recycling mechanism in India is next to nil, and NAMO E-waste Company hopes to change that.
Also Read: E-Waste On The Rise: India Is Now One Of The Top Five E-Waste Producers In The World: Report
Started back in 2014 by Akshay Jain, a 28-year-old from New Delhi specialising in the waste management, today NAMO E-waste Company is helping ineffective e-waste management of 70 per cent of the total e-waste generated in the country and is helping reduce the e-waste load. The company collects e-waste from 12 states and union territories – Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Mumbai, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, then segregates the collected waste and provides comprehensive and complete recycling services to get rid of electronic wastes. The company also segregates the waste and usable devices are refurbished, which are then sold through online marketplaces and a dealers’ network.
Moreover, the waste that is of no use is broken to extract commodities like copper, aluminium, iron, etc. are then sold to foundries, factories that produce metal castings.
GEM Enviro Management Recycling Waste Into T-shirts, Caps, Bags And More
India generates over 62 million tonnes of garbage in a year, out of which a whopping 85 per cent is recyclable. But the problem is that we just recycle 22-28% per cent of the waste. Whiffing a business opportunity, the friends – Dinesh Parikh, Sachin Sharma, and Aditya Parikh started GEM Enviro Management in 2013.
What do they do? The company collects pre- and post-consumer packaging waste such as plastic bottles, wrappers, plastic packaging from factories, offices, hotels, motels, and institutes and converts it into products such as T-shirts, caps, bags, soft toys, apparels and blankets. Today the company has the presence in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru and has successfully transformed 6,056 tonnes of waste in the last five years. Company’s client base includes biggies like Bisleri, Pepsi, Cipla, IDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, and Google.
ExtraCarbon Providing On-demand Kabadiwala Service To Collect Recyclable Waste
ExtraCarbon is a waste management company, which kick-started its operations back in 2013 from Gurugram. The company provides on-demand kabadiwala (scrap dealer) services to the individuals and in the commercial areas and allow them to recycle waste, sell second- hand items, and lead an eco-friendly lifestyle.
What makes ExtraCarbon different is their working model – the users who opt for their services can either opt for payment in cash or points in return of the scarp they will be selling to the company. The points earned can be further used to top-up their mobile phone or DTH services, pay electricity bills, buy products and groceries, or Paytm credits.
Today the company is helping more than 41,000 users to go green in eight cities of India including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Manesar, Lucknow and Ludhiana.
Also Read: From Old To Gold: Tap Your Creative Side To Upcycle Your Used CDs
Scarpshala Helping India Learn The Art Of Upcycling
With an aim to teach people the art of recycling in a creative way, Shikha Shah started Scarpshala in Varanasi. Her startup helps in recycling trash or scrap by transforming it into useful home utility products for others. Started in 2016, Scrapshala today is selling products online on more than 15 portals and is involved with more than 1000 people offline.
The company is dealing in two types of segments – Product based (using trash and converting it into useful decorative pieces) and service-based (fixing non-working items) for people. Their presence is both online and offline and they deal with goodies made out of trash.
As of date, Scarpshala has successfully recycled more than 20,000 plastic bottles and around 10,000 kilograms of waste.
Also Read: More About Scarpshala
Paperman, Envisioning A World With No Landfills
Paperman, a Chennai based organisation that was started in 2010 by Mathew Jose with an objective to promote recycling in the country. What the company does is simple – they take paper, plastic and metal waste from individuals and help in effective recycling. Not just that, Paperman also educates school students through their School Recycling Programmes.
Till date, the company has reached to more than 7 lakh people and has recycled 1 lakh kilograms of waste and is currently present in Chennai, Trivandrum and Coimbatore.
If we don’t take waste management seriously now then by 2030 India will need a landfill as big as Bengaluru to dump all our waste. So, the next time you decide to pop the waste in the bin without thinking, stop and think of what you can do to reduce the waste burden of the planet.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
