This startup plans to save up to 13 Billion litres of water by making urinals waterless!

• ByStartupStory     |    September 19, 2022

“There is a huge gap between solutions available in the market today and solutions which are actually needed. The focus of the company is on odour management. And we aim to tackel the odour problems and in turn improve hygiene with sustainable solutions” – Kedar Kulkarni, Co-Founder & Director, Rutu Biosys.

Rutu Biosystems is Biotechcompany which develops & manufactures a wide range of Biological Solutions for sanitation, odour control, waste management and water conservation.  It was founded by Mr. Mohan Kulkarni in 2007, when he accidentally got in touch with biotechnology. This field inspired him so much that he left electrical engineering and started exploring this whole new world. It is based in Maharashtra and has it’s own laboratory in Pune. This company provides sanitation, odour control and waste management solutions. They offer a wide range of bio-products that effectively meet the Eco-friendly cleaning needs of corporate, institutional and government institutions. Rutu Biosystems developed the brand BIODOC, based on the principle of “Cleaning- For Well Being”.

Their aim is to be recognized globally for pioneering solutions in the field of Biotechnology and to foster sustainable sanitation and hygiene for a greener tomorrow. All their solutions are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. 

Now this company is headed by Mr. Kedar Kulkarni, who is a Biotech graduate himself. 

Startup Story’s interview with the Co-founder of Rutu Biosys himself, reveals about how the company started its journey, width of the company, their aims, and about their goals. 

Rutu Biosystem’s 1st steps

This company first started working in the field of sanitization. So their first mission was to neutralise the odour in garbage dumping grounds. They offered solutions of reducing odour to Municipal corporations all over the country. Which turned out to be a big success! Their product was not an ordinary masking or scented compound, it was a neutralising agent, biodegradable, and a biological compound. After covering garbage odour problems they moved on to other odour causing areas, such as washroom hygiene. And that’s how the journey started.

Hygiene and Biotechnological Industries in India

Mr. Kedar Kulkarni says that the Hygiene Industry in India is very fragmented, and largely controlled by unorganised sectors themselves. And this industry is still a developing market in the country. Though the market is huge in India, he believes that theirsolutionsis being drivendue to its niche character and it’s role in sanitization and waste management through biotechnological and scientific solutions.

Key Challenges Faced by the Consumers

In an exclusive interview was start up story, Kedar Kulkarni mentioned  the key challenges faced by the consumers are “Odour” and “Lack of Awareness”. Most of the organisations spend a lot of money on cleaning hygiene but ignore odour. The products/conventational products conduct only a superficial job on the outer level, hence consumers tend to use separate odour busters & perfumes to cover up the smell. In the case of awareness, consumers themselves are not aware of good hygiene, sanitization and waste disposal. He mentions that their company itself struggled with spreading awareness. They spent 10 consecutive years on creating awareness, as the products were conventionally different from the other products. He also mentions, first by conversing with consumers they get to know what the problem is, if it is from hygiene, water or sanitization and then come up with the solutions. Hence conversing and communicating with consumers also help a great deal in coming up with solutions.

How is Rutu biosystem’s solution is different from others?

Their major difference is that it is not capex based, which means there is no capital investment and no change in infrastructure. Hence the existing urinal can be transformed into waterless and odourless. Contrary to competing product which require capital investments and regular maintenance as well.   Thats how Rutu has made it cost effective and easy, witha consumable based structure. Aagin these products areGreen Certified. This was a major breakthrough and a key selling product for Rutu Biosys. Also one urinal consumes 27,000 litres of water which is the annual consumption of a person. Hence by adapting to waterless urinals, thousand litres of water can be saved.

An existing urinal converted to waterless using BIODOC technology without any capex

Contributions made in the industry

He mentions that they have manufactured a product which does not take away the resources but in turn gives benefits such as water saving, improvement in hygiene and odour management. By going one step ahead they have also linked water saving with carbon emission reduction. When we are cutting down the usage of water we are indirectly reducing the emission of carbon to the environment. Behind usage of every 1000 litres of water, approx 2.45 kg of carbon emission is taking place. Even though it is just a small saving, this is a significant step that is needed. 

Evolution of the industry

He states that there have been a drastic change in the last 10 years. As people back then had no idea about conservation, and environmental changes. But now the people are aware of climate change, global warming and decide what action they should take towards helping the environment. And can be well acquainted with the products.

Where will Biosys be in the next 3 years?

They want to become the name for Odour management in the industry. And want to increase the service of water less and odour less urinals by 5 lakh in the next 3 years. Which will results in tons of water being saved. If one urinal consumes 27,000 litres of water, and by creating 5 lakh waterless urinals, it  may save 13 billion litres of water! Let’s hope Rutu biosys accomplishes this goal of theirs, and let us all walk towards saving and conserving our environment for our future generations. 

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