A majority of start-ups are born with an idea to solve an existing problem. Entrepreneurs are the ones who initiate the idea into a project or a company. Start-ups may be small companies, but they can play a significant role in economic growth. India has the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world. India had about 50,000 start-ups in 2018, around 8,900 – 9,300 of these are technology-led start-ups and 1300 new tech start-ups were born in 2019 alone, implying that 2-3 tech start-ups are born every day. India, being a developing country, encourages entrepreneurship among its youth citizens.
“Start-ups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them go on to be successful and influential ”. Here are ten start-up companies which started with innovative ideas and are now leading to tackle plastic pollution effectively.
Karma Recycling
According to the United Nations, there are more mobile phones than toilets in India. Being one of the most crowded countries in the world, India is also one of the biggest electronic waste producers. This makes India a lucrative market for selling recycled electronics.
In April 2013, Akshat Ghiya and Aamir Jariwala launched Karma Recycling – a company that purchases old mobile devices, fixes them, reengineers them if needed, and resells them. Karma is a leading redistributor of mobile devices in India. Karma Recycling has two channels to collect smartphones, tablets and laptops from users – one being company website, which allows people in 25 cities across India to sell their used electronic devices. Two retailers and the company together have an interface, which is an end-to-end solution for retailers to evaluate any old mobile device and offer that value as an in-store discount to their customers, which is called Karma Recycling Exchange Hub, and is presently available in 250 retail stores across India.
BUREO
There is an estimate of 640,000-discarded fishing nets polluting the ocean floors and shoals each year (making up approximately 10% of plastic ocean pollution). According to the World Wildlife Fund, over one million seabirds are killed by ocean pollution each year. 300,000 dolphins and porpoises die each year due to entangling in discarded fishing nets, among other items. Bureo is working on keeping the fishing nets from entering the ocean. In most of the cases, the problem is not the fishermen but rather the lack of infrastructure available for, when the nets meet their end of life. They also work together with fisheries and local communities to provide an incentivized program to collect, clean, sort and recycle fishing nets into their NetPlus material, which creates positive solutions for end-of-use fishing nets, along with employment opportunities for local workers, and funding for community programs. Their main products are skateboards, Sunglasses and NetPlus material.
rePurpose
Svanika Balasubramanian, along with Peter Hjemdahl and Aditya Siroya, founded rePurpose, a company whose mission is to strengthen the waste management infrastructure in countries like India and provide stable livelihoods to marginalized waste workers. 75% of donation money is directly contributed to the waste organizations that empower workers, intercept and recycle plastic waste.
rePurpose helps individuals and organizations measure their plastic footprint, take responsibility for it by funding the recovery and recycling of an equivalent volume of plastic by vetted formal waste management enterprises in India, and reduce their plastic consumption in a gamified manner with personalized tips and tools. rePurpose, being an Indian based company, has managed to create awareness on a global level for plastic pollution and waste management.
Green Toys
Green Toys, a California-based start-up, chimes in by producing toys out of recycled milk jugs. The company has already recycled almost 45 million (and counting) milk jugs. They also integrate other types of recycled plastic like yogurt cups. All the plastic is collected by the waste management, cleaned, shredded into flakes, reprocessed into our raw material, and mixed with food-safe, mineral-based colouring. Green Toys prints boxes with soy ink, made from soybeans, which makes it a natural renewal resource and it biodegrades four times faster. All products are tested at every step along the way from the recycled plastic material to the finished product to ensure the safety for kids.
Pappco Greenware
Pappco Greenware was started by Anil Agarwal, Aadesh Agarwal and Abhishek Agarwal, who learnt about bagasse (sugarcane waste) products, a compostable alternative to plastic. Mumbai-based Pappco Greenware produces a wide range of food packaging items including food streamers, paper straws, lunch plates, tableware, Eco boxes, Compostable lids, takeaway boxes and wooden cones. All the products are eco-friendly, and that’s the premise this company is based on.
Apart from being sustainable, Pappco Greenware also gives great importance to quality & safety in packaging. As all the packaging is designed to come in food contact, the company ensures products are tested for heavy metals & other contaminants. Pappco Greenware is a widely accepted brand across the Indian subcontinent and is also sold outside India in UAE, the UK, Africa, Qatar and Sri Lanka.
Bare Necessities
Bare Necessities was founded in 2016 by Sahar Mansoor. Bengaluru-based Bare Necessities manufactures eco-friendly products like organic bath salts, body scrubs, shampoos, toothpaste, facial cleansers and lip balms. It also offers items like menstrual cups, laundry detergent, bamboo toothbrushes, stainless steel straws and many other similar products.
Sahar began her journey by conducting workshops in flea markets in the city, where she showed people how to make their own body care products, and educated them about the ingredients in the products they use. She has also been leading a zero-waste lifestyle for over five years. The start-up uses organic, local and fair-trade ingredients, and its products are non-toxic, non-GMO and cruelty-free. It also uses 100% recyclable packaging.
Start-ups and innovation go hand in hand. A healthy economy thrives because the leaders and players in different industries keep adapting to the evolving needs, arising from changing times. While innovation drives the start-up’s strategy, it gives them an edge over their competition and helps them become superior to the others and then sustain their lead in the market. Having start-ups come up with innovative solutions to tackle plastic pollution is vital and a need of the hour.
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