KOCHI: With a mission to sustainably and scientifically tackle the menace of solid waste in the society, this Kozhikode-based startup, Green Worms conducts various activities on many levels in order to minimise the problem of waste-management. Besides the activities they conduct, this is perhaps the only organisation which recycles even the low-grade plastics.Green Worms is the brainchild of Jabir Karat, who after completing his masters in history from Delhi University started Green Worms Eco Solutions along with his friends, Mohammed Jamsheer C, Shameer Bava, Razak P and Abdul Wahab K P. But what led this post-graduate to start something like this is the growing problem of solid waste disposal. “I wanted to do something for the society and I thought garbage will turn out to be a huge problem for the country in the days to come considering the amount of waste being accumulated from houses, shopping complex, hospitals etc,” says Jabir Karat, the founder of Green Worms.
Currently, this organisation offers its services to five districts in Kerala like Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Mallapuram. They provide end-to-end services in waste management right from awareness to recycling. They are presently providing their services to two municipalities and 12 grama panchayats. However, the nature of the services vary from complete collection of dry waste to providing consultancy services to the bodies on how to manage waste sustainably.
There are 13 segregation units spread over five districts. Three units are run from hospital premises which exclusively manage their waste. Jabir says, “We are managing 15 tonnes of bio-degradable waste in one day and we have tried almost all kinds of waste-management techniques.” There are two plants to recycle four grades of plastic and specialises in recycling low-grade plastics like milk sachetand polythene bags which otherwise have fewer takers in the recycling industry.
Green worms have partnered with Karo Sambhav, a Delhi-based E-Waste Management organsisation for e-waste collection and provide training workshops to students so that they collect e-waste from schools and colleges and also train them as to how to collect electronic waste. So far, this organisation has managed waste for more than 100 big and small events including weddings, conferences, food festivals, school festivals and private parties. They have even installed waste bins in the districts that they function in. Green Worms is an expert in not only managing waste from events but are also planning for zero-waste events for the future.
In a nutshell
Started in 2014
Raised fund through bootstrap
Annual turnover 16-17 lakh per month
Rs 20 to Rs 100 per month from households and Rs 1,000 to Rs1 lakh through commercial