Manu Vajipey and Rajkiran Madangopal flew in here from Silicon Valley leaving cozy tech jobs with a mission to make a difference with what they do. The idea was to get involved with something that was sustainable and replicable. So they chose the route of recycling plastic.
In about three years of their return to Hyderabad, they have mapped most of the kabadiwallas (door-to-door waste collectors) in the city through a mobile application, engaged them in segregating plastics and recycled the collected plastic at a modern plant.
The main objective of their firm Banyan Nation has been to ensure that not only the recycling gets more organised, but the recycled plastic gets used again by leading automotive and other sector companies.
Over the years, the model they are using has been validated and what started as a venture with their savings received a major boost of funding. This has led to the setting up of a modern plant.
The business of plastic recycling in India is not new. Most of it happens in the informal sector. If you have around ₹10 lakh, you can easily buy a couple of machines and get into the business. But a machine which conforms to pollution control norms would cost at least four times the ordinary machines in the market.
The back end collection of plastics has a supply chain in itself starting from roadside rag pickers to door-to-door kabadiwallas. While there are more than 30,000 rag pickers in Hyderabad, some 3000 kabadiwallas are central to this collection and distribution, leading to recycling of plastic.
“In the year 2013, we mapped over 1,500 kabadiwallas for a bird’s eye view of how they function and started working with them with the idea of producing better plastic. Right from collection, segregation to supply for recycling, everything was formalised,” Manu Vajipey recalls.
The company began sourcing plastic waste material from aggregators before sorting and grading it for treatment and recycling. As a result of using innovative technologies, Banyan Nation produces better quality plastic pellets with a longer life span than its competitors.
“In addition, we help some of the corporate entities to dispose off their plastic in a better and responsible manner through our channel. This joins the recycling chain, leading to a more environment friendly product that improves citizen and worker health.”
For corporate entities Banyan Nation is a great help. It enables them to neatly close the loop, with their waste taken care of efficiently. They also buy better plastic. While it may not be right to name companies who source from us, but in the long run when leading corporates take to us, our model gets further strengthened, says Vajipey.
Significantly, employees here are paid wages as per Government norms with all attendant facilities. This is a big change in the generally informal sector.
The model received a shot in the arm in 2015. KKR, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and Shujog pumped in funds to enable the company to scale up operations. This resulted in raising about $800,000 equity.
Vajipey, co-founder and CEO, who worked as a techie with Qualcomm and Madangopal look back with pride as they have managed to deploy the best technologies and raise the bar on recycling of plastic waste.