How This Waste Management Startup Is On A Mission To Make The Country Clean And Garbage Free- ECOWRAP

• ByStartupStory     |    September 5, 2021

‘The only three P’s which are essential to be an entrepreneur; first and foremost is to be passionate. If you are not passionate about what you are doing you may lose the zeal to do at some point. Another important trait is to be persistent; sometimes situations might come to a brink but one must never give up. Third salient feature is to remain patient throughout the journey. Great things take time to happen,’ said Angraj Swami, Co-founder, Ecowrap in an informative and detailed interview with Startup Story.

Angraj possesses a degree in Physics from Delhi University. “Whenever I used to visit Murthal, I would pass by a dumpsite in Delhi’s Mukarba Chowk. It made me ponder what I could do to change this way of Waste Management,” he says. That made him decide to build an ecosystem where natural resources can be used in a more optimum way. While researching Angraj perceived that recycling infrastructure is not good in our country and he set up his own paper manufacturing plant in Delhi. “In India, we have a lot of recyclers but they’re importing waste from other countries and recycling it here. And the only reason behind it is that Indian people don’t segregate their waste.” 

He further explained it by giving an example that “suppose if I am a plastic recycler and I am recycling shampoo bottles. So, if I have to get shampoo bottles, I have to collect it from the dumping side because people in India mix their wastes. However, there will be waste contaminants associated with the bottles. And, if I recycle those bottles the quality of the bottles will deteriorate which is the problem in Indian waste management. And this waste contaminant becomes unrecyclable.” He believes recycling is not the problem. The problem exists within human behavior in not segregating their waste. 

Founded in 2018, by Angraj Swami, Manoj Sabu, Chandrakant, Ajay. Ecowrap stands for Eco, Waste and Resources Action Programme, with an aim of increasing participation of the general public in segregating their waste and total waste utilization. Speaking with Startup Story, Angraj told us how he and his team motivated residents for this programme. Ecowrap started by distributing free dustbins to the public to create a habit of not only using them to dispose of garbage, but also to bring about awareness on segregation. To incentivise the public, they launched a waste monetisation scheme, paying for inorganic waste. They give digital tokens depending upon the kgs of waste through which one can buy FMCG products.

Recycling

Angraj shared Ecowrap main source of revenue i.e., recycling. So, whatever waste Ecowrap collects they sell it to recyclers through which a good amount of revenue has been generated as Ecowrap promotes Source Segregation. Moreover, waste collected by Ecowrap has zero waste contamination.

Upcycling

In this Ecowrap upcycled trash or turn it into decorative products. Angraj said upcycle products are usually antique products. For this self-help groups have been formed in rural areas. They have trained women of rural areas for upcycling products out of waste material. Once the products have been made then they sell it through online or offline channels and share the revenue with these women. Thus, providing a source of income and an opportunity to work to rural women. “Every woman is earning around 5000-7000 per month by just working 3 to 4 hours a day.

Initially Ecowrap was working in residential areas. But later, they targeted bulk waste generators such as Restaurants, Hotels to cover up their logistics cost. Recently, the company has raised seed investment from Social Alpha.

Future Plans

The startup is aiming to develop the technological part. Angraj said, “we want smart dustbins so that every dustbin can send location and data hence, this will help us in optimizing our logistics.” Another goal is to scale up the operations into different sectors. Third and essential plan is to make other cities zero-waste cities as well.  

Challenges faced so far

When asked about the challenges faced by Ecowrap, Angraj replied that earlier the only challenge we confronted was changing human behavior towards waste segregation. But gradually we overcome it by applying an incentivizing model. Especially during the pandemic, we were becoming financially liable since covid guidelines are being relaxed and restaurants and hotels are open again. So, the situation is getting better. Another problem which Ecowrap has been facing is rural women participation in upcycling business. Angraj told us that “in rural areas families don’t allow women to work. Initially, we had trained around 100 women but only 24 women are working now. We believe more women will come and join us.” The Fourth challenge is difficult in getting investors, mentors, and incubation centers specifically for the impact sector. Gradually, this will also improve, Angraj said.

Customer Experience

Overall customer experience has been satisfactory. He’s hoping more people will come forward, practice waste segregation, learn how to improve recycling for a better future of the country and aim to make the country clean and garbage free. 

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