Chennai metropolis generates over 5,000 metric tonnes of waste per day, most of which is dumped, without being segregated, into two landfills in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi. It's possible to reduce this by 70 per cent, says Siddharth Hande, provided every household in Chennai sells its recyclables to the local kabadiwallas and composts their organic waste at home.

Hande is the founder and CEO of Kabadiwalla Connect, a much-awarded start-up in the area of waste management and recycling. The company has an app, RecyKle, that connects scrap dealers — kabadiwallas — with consumers. So people can use the app to find kabadiwallas nearby, find out what scrap they deal in and even ask them to collect waste from their house. The app also provides information on how to manage waste responsibly at home – segregating, composting, etc.

Kabadiwallas and waste pickers, says Hande, play an important role in the ecosystem of handling recycled waste and help prevent at least one-third of all the recyclable waste generated in the city of Chennai from reaching the landfills through their informal networks connecting them with residents, commercial establishments and industries.....Read more

Source web page:DNA India