MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

Urbin | A Hyperlocal waste collection service for India

Tagline

Decentralised post-consumer waste collection for cities in the developing world — powered by local scrap-shops

Pitch us on your solution

Management of waste remains a major environmental and public health challenge in many developing countries — crippling the implementation of a circular economy. Integrating informal actors and their infrastructure into the formal waste management system offers an opportunity for the developing world to manage waste-streams much more inclusively and efficiently.

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What is the problem you are solving?

The management of municipal waste remains a major environmental and public health challenge in many developing countries — crippling the implementation of a circular economy.

Integrating informal actors and their infrastructure into the formal waste management system offers an exciting opportunity for the developing world to manage their waste-streams much more inclusively and efficiently.

Moreover, the decentralised nature of informal waste supply-chain offers a unique perspective into how the developing world can 'leapfrog' developed countries in circular economy innovation — to deliver the infrastructure and services needed to support their growing economies and populations.

As a start, we have developed a pilot that showcases a technology enabled, hyperlocal, plastic-waste collection service pilot — administered by a local informal scrap-shop in Mylapore, Chennai (India).

Who are you serving?

The project aims to divert waste away from the landfill, rivers and oceans in cities in the developing world by leveraging actors in the informal waste ecosystem.

Further, it aims to provide more livelihood opportunities and dignity of labour to waste-pickers and small scrap-shops by connecting them directly to small and medium waste generators in the city.

Finally, it aims to reduce costs to the municipality by leveraging the already existing informal infrastructure in the service of effective and inclusive waste management.

What is your solution?

We have developed a pilot that showcases a technology enabled, hyperlocal, plastic-waste collection service pilot — administered by a local informal scrap-shop in Mylapore, Chennai (India).

Select only the most relevant.

Enable recovery and recycling of complex products

Where is your solution team headquartered?

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Our solution's stage of development:

Pilot

More about your solution

Select one of the below:

New business model or process

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

The recovery of post-consumer waste in cities in the developing world is driven by the informal ecosystem. Kabadiwalla Connect has determined that leveraging the informal ecosystem of urban waste recyclers has the potential to decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills in Indian cities by 70 percent.

In the current scenario, municipalities, multinational brands, and waste management companies struggle to work effectively with informal stakeholders – despite increasing evidence of the commercial, environmental, and social benefits of forming mutually beneficial partnerships. Through a unique business process and award winning technology, Kabadiwalla Connect integrates the informal ecosystem into the reverse logistics supply chain, helping municipalities, brands, and waste management companies recover post-consumer waste efficiently and more inclusively in the developing world.

Rather than approaching the informality as a problem and developing a new system for waste management, Kabadiwalla Connect uses its technology platform to leverage the already existing informal infrastructure toward a more efficient waste management system. The KC platform makes the informal ecosystem more accessible to other players. Municipalities can utilise informal infrastructure to bring down operational costs; waste management firms can source from it; corporations can carry out their extended producer responsibility through it; apartments and small businesses can send their recyclable waste directly to informal stakeholders that are a part of the informal ecosystem.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Internet of Things
Indigenous Knowledge
Behavioral Design

Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?

Our work began with a comprehensive mapping of the informal supply chain and it's stakeholders. KC uses a value proposition based approach when developing technology and business processes that integrate the informal sector.

The Veolia institut has published an article on our approach, which can be accessed here: https://www.institut.veolia.org/sites/g/files/dvc2551/files/document/2019/03/28%20The%20informal%20waste%20sector,%20Siddharth%20Hande.pdf

Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.

Very Poor/Poor
Minorities/Previously Excluded Populations

In which countries do you currently operate?

India
Indonesia

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

India
Indonesia

How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

Currently

Currently we have a 30 bin pilot which we have deployed in Mylapore, Chennai. As part of our pilot, we have been able to hit the following milestones.

Education - 5,000 residents benefited from learning about plastic recycling
Employment - 2 kabadiwallas each making an addition of 10,000 rupees every month
Waste Recycled - 22,500 kilograms of post-consumer plastic waste recycled as of July 2nd 2019. Currently recycling 3,500 kilograms of plastic waste every month
CO2 Reduction - 1,35,000 CO2e reduction. Currently 21,000 CO2e reduction every month.
Total number of pick ups - 1500. 225 pick ups per month.

Two year:

In two years we hope to expand to 50% of chennai, covering densely populated areas and major apartments having 3,000 Urbins across Chennai

Education - 500,000 residents benefited from learning about plastic recycling
Employment - 200 kabadiwallas each making an addition of 10,000 rupees every month
Waste Recycled - Potential to recycle 350 metric tons of plastic every month
CO2 Reduction - 2,100 metric tons of CO2e reduction every month
Total number of pickups - 22,500 Urbin pickups a month

Five Year:

In 5 years we will have expanded to 50% of 5 other cities, including Chennai, having a total of 15,000 Urbins across these 5 cities

Education - 1,500,000 residents benefited from learning about plastic recycling
Employment - 1,000 kabadiwallas each making an addition of 10,000 rupees every month
Waste Recycled - Potential to recycle 1,750 metric tons of plastic every month
CO2 Reduction - 10,500 metric tons of CO2e reduction every month
Total number of pickups - 112,500 Urbin pickups a month

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

Our goal is to expand into more cities in India and Indonesia through partnering with multi-national brands and waste-management companies looking to deploy Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in these countries. Similarly we are looking at potentially working in Columbia, Vietnam and Brazil in collaboration with the private sector.

What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

The main barriers that would potentially arise are policy and other types of regulatory issues that limit the private sector or local municipality with working collaboratively with the informal sector.

Financing innovations that strengthen rather than compete with stakeholders in the informal system would also remain a challenge.

How are you planning to overcome these barriers?

We hope to work with large brands and waste management companies, as well as leading municipalities in the developing world to demonstrate proof-of-concepts that could then scale quickly through their channels in critical areas dealing with issues of marine pollution.

If your solution has a website, provide a link here:

https://www.kabadiwallaconnect.in/

If you have additional video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video here:

About your team

Your business model & funding

Partnership potential