BENGALURU: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you come across the word ‘ORS’? Usually, we think of oral rehydration solutions like Electral, which help fight off feelings of nausea and dehydration to make you feel rejuvenated. Using the same logic, ORS - Old Raddi Sold - is an app that aims at rejuvenating the environment.
ORS was launched on World Environment Day last year by Recover Habitat, a city-based tech startup that focuses on coming up with technological solutions to help protect the environment.
A year from then, director of Recover Habitat, Hemath Zade, who is from Maharashtra but has lived in Bengaluru for the last 20 years, says they have a lot more to accomplish in the future.
Zade, who is part of a citizen-run group called Huramavu Save Lakes group, noticed that there was a lot of degradation of the four lakes in the Huramavu area. “While we were going around the area in 2014, we saw that there was a lot of dumping of waste in and around these lakes. We formed a trust, of which I am the chairman, and would advice people on how to better manage their waste,” says Zade.
He says that even then, people would wait for someone from the BBMP to come pick up their waste, and that person would just carry the material and dump it at the nearest landfill.
“We saw all of this happening, and I thought I should become a private arm in helping people to dispose their waste. I wanted to provide a complete solution to segregating waste, but doing that would require a lot of investment. So, we, my partner Suresh Das and I, decided to focus specifically on dry waste - specifically scrap material.”
The aim was to modernise the system that the kabbadi wallahs use, and that was how ORS came into being. However, Zade says it was a challenge getting these raddi wallahs on board because they have been going by their own system of functioning for years.
“The raddi wallahs were hesitant because they said they didn’t want to use the app, wear uniforms and only do a single pick up in a day. Also, since they don’t have digital weighing scales, their main way of making some extra cash was by quoting higher prices for smaller amounts of waste,” says Zade.
They then decided to close that chapter and hire their own people. Since covering the entire city would be a challenge, they decided to focus specifically on North East Bengaluru - from HSR Layout to Yellahanka - with two workers and two pick-up trucks. They currently provide their services to 400 houses, who have registered via the app, and the reason they are able to manage is because pick-ups don’t happen on a daily basis.
Once the scrap is picked up, it is segregated at the company’s warehouse and sent out to recyclers, based on the type of material.
Working with the BBMP
Zade says that they currently work as vendors for the BBMP, and are part of many events and santhes organised on solid waste management. “When the officials come and see our initiative, they are impressed by it. Even Mr Sarfaraz Khan (Joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, BBMP), visited our warehouse and appreciated our work, he invited us to his office, but after that, we have’t heard from his office,” says Zade.
“There are definitely a lot of solutions to managing our waste, but the BBMP doesn’t follow through with them. That’s where citizen initiatives like ours come into play. The BBMP is just a body between the citizens and the contractors. The contractors usually just dump the waste at landfills near lakes - it’s like a mafia system,” says Zade.
How does it work?
ORS is a mobile app which helps people to manage their dry waste such as paper, plastic, metal scrap, e-waste, cardboard and cartons by registering themselves and selling it through the app. People can request an agent to come and pick up their dry waste and earn money out of it. Apart from the concept of cleaning the environment, the platform has created a business opportunity to many scrap vendors, traders and recyclers.
The app has had 1,500 plus downloads registered on the Google Playstore. Soon, they will be launching an improvised version of the app on Google Play Store and on iOS, which will help people manage their waste efficiently. They are now trying to spread across the city, and also get moe citizens involved in the process. They operate from 9am-6pm, Monday through Sunday.