Waste Administration in India, significantly on the particular person family stage, has been a longstanding concern. Authorities estimates from 2021 reveal that the nation generates roughly 62 tonnes of Municipal Strong Waste (MSW) yearly.

Of this complete, 80 p.c is collected, however solely 22-28 p.c undergoes recycling. The remaining waste is deposited in landfills, contributing to further environmental challenges. Stories counsel that the proportion of MSW is anticipated to surge by sevenfold within the subsequent decade, exacerbating the problem additional.

These staggering figures underscore the vital downside of waste segregation on the micro stage. Information point out {that a} mere 30 p.c of waste undergoes correct segregation, resulting in recyclable supplies like plastic being wrongly disposed of in landfills, the place they contribute to environmental degradation.

“What I imagine is that individuals want some type of incentive to do one thing. So I made a decision to give you an idea the place folks get a reward for segregating their waste,” says Abhishek Agarwal, the founding father of Goodeebag.

Goodeebag, a Hyderabad-based waste administration firm, collects your segregated waste out of your doorstep and gives reward factors in return. Customers can redeem these reward factors to buy groceries from the Goodeebag retailer.

The icing on the highest? All these providers are freed from value!

One man’s waste is one other’s treasure 

Coming from a typical Marwari household, Abhishek claims that enterprise is in his blood. “My complete household is stuffed with profitable businessmen in numerous fields, so for me, I had all the time recognized that entrepreneurship was my future,” he says. 

Earlier than Gooedeebag, Abhishek had began a logistics firm. “Though the enterprise was operating easily, I used to be on the lookout for one thing extra in my life. I wished to do one thing that provides again to nature,” he says. 

“In a span of 13 years, I had expanded the enterprise to many cities and had a fleet of automobiles too. Nonetheless, I made a decision to promote the corporate and discover one thing that aligns with what I wished to do,” he provides.

When Abhishek was trying to find his calling, he realised a persistent downside. “I wished to do one thing that helps the atmosphere, and the largest downside I got here throughout was waste. I narrowed it all the way down to the micro stage and discovered that almost all households have been both not conscious of correct waste segregation or have been too busy to do it,” he explains.

To resolve the issue of landfills and waste remaining unrecycled, Abhishek opines that there was a necessity to seek out the core challenge. 

“As soon as I had recognised the problem, a small concept sprung into my head. I began a WhatsApp group the place I invited folks to segregate their waste and hand it over to me in alternate for a goody,” he says. 

“And it labored! Lots of people confirmed a lot curiosity and have been prepared to do it for a reward. It was a brand new and fascinating idea for them,” he provides. 

This was an indication sufficient and Abhishek determined to increase on this concept. “A small household of individuals, on a regular basis 400 to 500 gm of plastic is generated at house. There are not any scrap sellers who will take that quantity of plastic. I realised that this was an issue with many,” he says. 

To push folks to make segregating waste a behavior and a part of their every day routine, Abhishek determined to present them an incentive. 

“That is how the concept behind Goodeebag happened,” he says. 

‘One thing for Nothing’ 

“It’s a ardour for me greater than something,” he says, recalling how his family and friends reacted when he determined to start out the corporate. 

“They weren’t as excited as I used to be. I had an current enterprise that was doing nicely and there was no want to change. They might suppose that on the finish of the day, it’s ‘Kabaad ka enterprise’ (scrap enterprise). It was my ardour in the direction of nature conservation that saved me going,” he says. 

Abhishek feels that it isn’t simply the federal government’s duty to handle waste however ours too. “The idea of gifting away rewards comes from my primary understanding of human nature. All of us love free stuff, don’t we? So the reward system has labored completely for us,” he says. 

Speaking about how his firm works, he says, “It’s easy — we’ve got an app which a client downloads. They segregate their waste and schedule a go to from the app. Our assortment govt comes and picks up their waste. The buyer can go to the applying and accumulate their reward factors.” 

The appliance has quite a lot of merchandise that buyers should buy. “We often have family stuff and groceries which the shoppers should buy without cost. We ship them to their houses inside 72 hours with out a supply cost. So principally, you get one thing for nothing,” he says. 

There is no such thing as a restrict on the quantity of waste that you must be picked up, and the rewards are based mostly on the load of the waste collected.

As soon as the waste is collected, Abhishek explains, “It involves our storage items the place it’s segregated once more. The dry waste collected is segregated into 40 classes together with paper, cardboard, textile plastic, wires, metals and many others. Many of the waste is plastic waste which fits to a manufacturing facility the place it’s transformed into tiles. We’ve collaboration with recyclers the place waste goes to and attire firms that want waste supplies,” he says. 

Nothing goes into landfills, he claims. 

To date, the corporate has collected 17,429 pickups and recycled about 89,164 Kg of waste. “We’ve 3,500 households in Hyderabad as members who repeatedly schedule pickups,” he says. 

Sushma from Hyderabad, who has been utilizing Goodeebag for some time, says, “It is rather onerous to segregate waste each day after which discard it. However after I discovered about Goodeebag, no less than the discarding half was sorted. They arrive and accumulate our waste after which recycle it. The perfect half is that additionally they give us incentive factors to purchase groceries. The service could be very easy, and initiatives like this assist us maintain our environment clear.”

At present current in Hyderabad, the corporate is planning to increase to 2 extra cities in India. 

(Edited by Padmashree Pande)