In 2010 when Siddharth Hande was spearheading Reclaim Our Beaches, a cleanliness drive that aimed at cleaning the beaches of Chennai, he realised they were merely transferring garbage from one place to another without addressing the larger issue of waste management.
The ruminations materialised into Kabadiwala Connect, an initiative that aims at helping residents segregate their waste, by connecting them with their nearest scrap dealers. The enterprise is co-founded by Rohit Koliyot and Sonaal Bangera who look after the design and business part of the venture respectively. “I was impressed by the way scrap dealers sorted out the dry waste from the lot. On further research I found out that their way of waste segregation is efficient and recyclable,” says Siddharth, an Urban Studies researcher. Kabadiwala Connect aims at mapping scrap dealers across the city and find them clienteles. “We have two dedicated apps for the purpose. While one that helps a scrap dealer find a client in their locality has already been launched, the other which helps residents find scrap dealers in their vicinity will be out soon.” The team so far has reached out to 50 scrap dealers in the stretch between Anna Nagar and Adyar .
“Out of 70 million tonnes of waste India generates every year, 20 per cent is recyclable. This constitutes waste such as plastic, glass, wood, paper and metal which can be easily sorted out at home and sent to the scrap dealer to be recycled or upcycled. If every household sells scrap, we will be able to send 70 per cent less waste to the landfill,” Siddharth says. ‘Everyday Recycling’, a programme by the enterprise on the other hand profiles people who are efficiently segregating and recycling their household waste.
“These experts in turn guide others on efficient waste disposal ways through workshops and social networking sites,” he adds.
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