Proper waste management is a pressing concern for most of the developing nations around the world, including India. The severity of the situation was realized lately by Parth Dave(24) while pursuing his fellowship with Tata Trust in Bengaluru. During his tenure over there, he worked directly with a lot of organizations, both government bodies and NGOs, on the field to understand the root cause behind this major problem.
Parth then moved to Gurgaon and discussed this grim issue with his fellow team mates Rahul Singh(26), Minakshi Bhasin (24) and Ankush Goel (25). The team then decided to put their engineering skills to best use which inspired them to create a kiosk.
Parth wondered how a machine can be made to collect waste automatically. “Creating a machine would be easy but only by giving away free coupons would it be used at all” Rahul explained the thought process behind encouraging users for proper waste disposal.
So, last November (2019), the team launched the first iteration of their Recycling Kiosk. The Kiosks automate the process of collection and segregation of solid waste such as PET bottles, aluminum cans, e-waste, medical waste etc. right at the source where the machine can detect the type of waste and store it separately. The Kiosks are also enabled with a unique reward ecosystem. People can avail amazing offers from big name brands like Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Croma, Lenskart, Swiggy, Urbanclap etc.
The primary challenge was now to successfully pilot the machine in major corporate premises of Gurugram. So they started surveying multiple corporate and residential premises and finally deployed their very first EnviroTech Kiosk in Gurugram Sector 57.
Although the technical aspects were a challenge for us at first. To make people aware of proper waste disposal, getting solidifying results and hence creating a positive impact was a bit heavy. But Interactions with government and non-government bodies were also generating some positive results”, adds Ankush.
“The primary motive of EnviroTech is to ensure that all the waste collected is properly processed through authorized recycling partners. Also the waste collected by the machines will decrease the resources required for recycling by up to 35%. Hence industries will be more agreeable to recycling activities which will lead to reduction of air pollution and water pollution. The venture will ensure that sanitary workers who have to work in unhygienic conditions will transition into processing and logistics of segregated waste”, Parth lays out his vision for the company.
They plan to expand to multiple locations in Delhi NCR and Tier 1 cities in India within the next 2 years. The team is the prime example of how engineers and developers can change the world, one code at a time.
