Sankara Narayanan
ExtraCarbon‘s mission is to reduce carbon footprint through engagement from community, brands and government.
Many ideas have been proposed to achieve a “clean country” status in India. Lots of funds have been deployed but still our recycling sector is importing waste to keep the factories running. At the same time, mountains of recyclable materials, used furniture and other items are sitting on people’s balconies and in their basements.
As per the OLX Crust study, the urban households are sitting on goods as diverse as a sofa and cars and worth Rs 56,000 crore they no longer need. According to a few estimates, India’s recovered paper industry is worth Rs 2,000 crore and demand of paper mills is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.6% till 2017.
After a brain storming session about the present waste management practices in India between family friends Gaurav and Anant, Gaurav shared his views on how United Kingdom is doing resource management through waste management. Anant also shared his views on the same which he gathered during his visits abroad. It was during this discussion that they both agreed upon that the situation in India can be improved upon. This discussion lead to many such discussions and meetings over coffee and breakfast wherein they decided on the concept of ExtraCarbon. It will be safe to say right now this market as a whole can be worth around $20 billion.
ExtraCarbon was launched on 26th June, 2013 by Gaurav and Anant when they saw the need for a place where the local community within a city could come together and take everyday actions to choose a right kind of future for them. They realised India cannot achieve Swach Bharat goals without empowering ragpickers & kabadiwala’s.
“We started this endeavour three years ago with one target in our mind, Swachh Bharat. Fortunately, our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now made this a mission of our country. Put simply, we are organizing the previously unorganized ragpickers, kabadiwallas, and garbage collectors, or as we call them Green Super Heroes TM.”
By working with their Green Super Heroes, they’ve already inspired their members to choose the right kind of waste disposable methods. Hence, their strength is their people.
Silent Revolution Gathering Momentum
Gaurav is an MBA and has experience of over a decade in the hotels, advertisement and education industry. When he was studying in UK the idea of waste management struck by observing how well western countries are not only managing the waste but have gone so far that it is a resource management for them these days. In the year 2011, when he came back to India, there were few takers of this idea but he found a very strong support from Anant. Anant, a graduate and the GM-Productions of Orient Craft (garment export house) quit his well paying job to dedicate his life for this vision where they both wanted to see a clean India with smarter cities.
Initial struggle started when they shared the idea with friends and family, they were scorned and laughed at by them because they did not find the idea appealing. Further to leave their successful job and to jump into this sector was not acceptable to most. The non-acceptance from resident welfare associations (RWA) was added salt to misery. Most of RWA’s saw them as a regular kabadiwala or safai-karamchari. It took a lot of time to change their perception but things started improving when users were introduced to their web/IT services where their services can be booked online. Initially adding new users and RWA’s was a very big challenge for them.
We’ve worked with Jaarvis Accelerator and created a technology platform to connect customers with their local Green Super Hero.
ExtraCarbon are aggregators of pick-up requests which gets fulfilled by Green Super Heroes (GSH). ExtraCarbon provides a mobile app, with which you can show Green Super Heroes your items without inviting them home. If you like their quote then a pick-up along with electronic weighing scales will be arranged so you are sure to gain best value. They even have a network that will buy your old clothes and furniture and you can also sell your old items and buy new ones.
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To make it easier for the GSH they have also introduced an alternative to cash for paying their customers. They provide reward points which customers can use to top-up their mobile phones or DTH, pay electricity bills, buy products and groceries, or even transfer to PayTM credits. As a customer you can choose to be paid in cash or points for your scrap materials. If you choose “Jhoomley Points” you are rewarded with even more value for your used and scrap goods, and GSH need not carry large amounts of hard cash, which is often borrowed from loan sharks. Green Super Heroes can also choose to be paid in Jhoomley points to increase their earnings on each kg of recycling. Hence, GSHs are not on their roles, but are on an inclusive model where both of them can co-exist. JC can be redeemed on Jhoomley.com or it can be transferred to PayTM.
The business model applies technology to bring new capabilities and solve an age-old problem
Owing to their exceptional & prompt services today they have over 21,000 users and they are handling over 100 pickups on a daily basis. They are presently operational in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Ludhiana, Patiala and Lucknow. They have a team size of 28 people and their last year’s revenue amounted Rs 1.71 Crores with a profit of Rs 2.21 Lakhs before tax.
In their future plans they are also talking with financial institutions to tap into some of the priority sector lending for on-boarding more Green Super Heroes, further improve their lives and for marketing.
“The Green Super Hero now has ExtraCarbon to help them with a clear strategy, technology and operations. GSH are earning more and not wasting time looking for customers with items to sell. They clean up cities and both the customers and Green Super Heroes make money from it.”
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