--- title: "Starbase Innovations: software for waste and recycling" description: "Starbase Innovations builds Swastha, software that plans trips, tracks vehicles and records collections for waste operators in Kerala and Maharashtra." url: "https://starbaseinnovations.in/" updated: "2026-10-30T02:14:24.125Z" --- # Starbase builds the software behind **waste collection and recycling**. Our product, Swastha, helps waste-management companies and fleets plan trips, track vehicles and record collections in Kerala and in Pune, Maharashtra. Next, we are extending that record to households, scrap dealers, aggregators and recyclers. ## Swastha in operation - **5,633** trips a month — as of Apr 2026 (Starbase data) - **302** vehicles on the platform — as of Apr 2026 (Starbase data) - **4,000+** active collection routes — as of Apr 2026 (Starbase data) - **2** states: Kerala and Maharashtra — as of Apr 2026 (Starbase data) ## Waste changes hands four times. The record breaks at each hand-off. Dry waste from a home or a panchayat collection point passes through several businesses before it is recycled. Most hand-offs are settled with paper slips, cash and phone calls, so it is hard to say how much was collected, what it was worth or where it ended up. 1. **Generator** — Homes, flats, offices and panchayat collection points sort and hand over dry waste. They rarely know who will collect it, when, or what it is worth. Lost at the next hand-off: Who collected it, what it weighed and the price paid. 2. **Scrap dealer (kabadiwala)** — Haritha Karma Sena units and private dealers collect, weigh and pay. Prices and volumes live in notebooks. Lost at the next hand-off: Which pickups a load came from. 3. **Aggregator** — Yards and material recovery facilities buy from dealers, sort by grade and bale. When a yard shuts, dealers find out when they arrive. Lost at the next hand-off: The source of each baled lot. 4. **Recycler** — Plants buy baled material but can’t show where it came from — which brands now need for their EPR reports. _At most arrows today: paper slips, cash and phone calls._ ## Reject waste from Kerala to cement kilns in Andhra Pradesh, every load on record Reject waste is what is left after dry waste is sorted and can’t be recycled. One operator sends it from its material recovery facilities in north Kerala to cement kilns about 640 km away. Here is how those trips run on Swastha, with the figures from the trip records. **A Kerala waste-management company** · 20 Aug – 15 Oct 2026 1. **The load is posted as a transport job** — The operator posts each load on Swastha with the pickup facility, the kiln and an agreed rate. 2. **A fleet accepts it** — Starbase’s own fleet accepted all 18 jobs and assigned a 12-wheel truck and driver to each. 3. **The truck is tracked on GPS** — Swastha reads the truck’s position from its GPS provider for the whole run, about three days from pickup to delivery. 4. **Proof at both ends** — The driver photographs the load at pickup and at the kiln. The drop point is verified and the delivered weight is recorded against the trip. Route: from Material recovery facility, Malappuram district, Kerala; from Material recovery facility, Kozhikode district, Kerala; to Cement kiln A, Andhra Pradesh; to Cement kiln B, Andhra Pradesh. - **18** trips completed, each GPS-tracked with photos at pickup and delivery — as of Oct 2026 (Swastha trip records) - **416 t** of reject waste delivered, by recorded delivery weight — as of Oct 2026 (Swastha trip records) - **23 t** average load per trip — as of Oct 2026 (Swastha trip records) - **~640 km** planned distance per trip — as of Oct 2026 (Swastha trip records) _Figures cover the trips completed between 20 August and 15 October 2026. Distance is the planned route; weight is the delivered weight recorded at the kiln. We name customers only with their written permission._ ## What runs today, and what comes next Each stage lists what waste operators use on Swastha today and what is on our roadmap. ### Collection Pickups from homes, flats and collection points, and the Haritha Karma Sena units and dealers who collect them. - Shared collection and drop points (Live): Operators who share a facility each see the trips that use it. - Household and flat pickup requests (Roadmap): Request a pickup, see the regional price or removal fee before anyone arrives, and rate the collector. - Scrap dealer and Haritha Karma Sena app (Roadmap): Pickup offers sent to the best nearby dealers in waves; batched small loads; Malayalam-first, large buttons. ### Transport Trips planned, dispatched and tracked on GPS, with photo proof at every stop. - Trip planning and dispatch (Live): One-off, recurring and on-the-spot trips with accept, pause, reassign and cancel. - Live GPS tracking (Live): Reads vehicle locations from seven Indian GPS providers and compares the planned route with the one driven. - Photo proof and digital trip pass (Live): Photos at each stop, a digital pass for every trip and a PDF trip sheet with the route and stops. - Outsourced fleet jobs (Live): Post a transport job; nearby fleets are notified and one accepts. - Driver and supervisor app (Live): Android and browser app in seven Indian languages, including Malayalam. ### Recycling Loads sold to aggregators and recyclers, with the source of every lot on record. - Aggregator and recycler prices (Roadmap): Aggregators and recyclers publish buying prices; dealers sell at the posted price or list a lot. - Source-to-recycler traceability (Roadmap): Declared and weighed kilos, price and party recorded at every hand-off. ### Compliance and reporting Operational reports for operators today; ward-level and EPR reporting planned. - Operational reports (Live): Around 17 reports — collections by category and location, vehicle use, driver performance — with Excel and CSV export. - Settlement and invoicing (Roadmap): Commission, GST and TDS per party, invoices, receipts and payouts. - EPR traceability for brands (Roadmap): Proof of where recycled material came from, for extended producer responsibility reporting. - Ward-level reports for local bodies (Roadmap): What each ward generates, collects and recovers. ## Backed by incubators and research institutions What each institution’s relationship with Starbase is, and any amounts the founders have confirmed. - **SIIC, IIT Kanpur** — ₹20 lakh — Investment and technology support from the Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur - **AIC-IIITK** — ₹15 lakh — Seed funding and incubation at the Atal Incubation Centre, IIIT Kottayam - **CUSAT TBI** — ₹2 lakh — Grant, RUSA funding and incubation at Cochin University of Science and Technology - **IPTIF, IIT Palakkad** — Co-development partner on Swastha’s architecture and routing - **NVIDIA Inception** — Member of NVIDIA’s programme for startups ## Latest insights ## Talk to the founders Operating numbers, a deployment in detail, our backers and the deck, in one place.