THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An app to earn money from waste, including from plastic and e-waste. Sounds interesting?
ClearScrap, a new initiative registered with the Kerala Startup Mission by four young professionals, is a facilitator interface for scrap collection, taking trash away by giving you a better rate than the market value. Launched in August, the app is gathering steam, with active participation in the city areas of Thiruvananthapuram.
Through the app, collection agents can learn about households from where scrap can be collected. Aiming at a pan-Kerala market by next year, the firm is also planning to expand to other metro cities in south India by 2027.
“Though there are very few apps for scrap collection in the country, all have their own collection yards, from where the waste is handed over to disposers.
We do not have a yard; the collection agents can directly approach households,” said Syed Mohammed Ashik, the chief financial officer of the firm. The app does not pose a threat to the job of collection agents, and better revenue can be generated by all stakeholders, Ashik clarified.
“We had agents who made a profit of Rs 60,000 a month,” Ashik said.
Calling the scrap industry an unnoticed space, with there being no records of the material quantity going into it, Ashik said the unorganised sector has a vast potential.
“Lakhs of crores of rupees are involved in the industry nationally, 5% of which is from Kerala,” he said.
Anyone with scrap can install the app and book an appointment for collection the next day. The quantity of scrap will decide the money you make.
“We are also collecting clothes, but by taking money from customers, except for sarees,” Ashik noted.
Begun as a thought to run a non-IT business during the pandemic, the app now facilitates the collection of plastic, steel, ACs, fridges, old newspapers and even coconut shells.
“Many artefacts can be made out of coconut shells, which are often thrown away by people. We price them at Rs 22 per kg,” Ashik said.