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StarbaseInnovations

Why Starbase exists

Between a home and a recycler, waste changes hands several times, and the record breaks at each hand-off. That is the part we can help fix.

The chain

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 this 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 this 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 this 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.

of solid waste generated in India every day
1,70,339 t
of solid waste generated in India every day
As of · CPCB Annual Report on SWM 2021-22
of it is processed or treated
54%
of it is processed or treated
As of · CPCB Annual Report on SWM 2021-22
is unaccounted for — 37,373 tonnes a day neither processed nor sent to a sanitary landfill
22%
is unaccounted for — 37,373 tonnes a day neither processed nor sent to a sanitary landfill
As of · CPCB Annual Report on SWM 2021-22
of solid waste generated every day in Kerala
3,472 t
of solid waste generated every day in Kerala
As of · CPCB Annual Report on SWM 2021-22

These CPCB figures cover all municipal solid waste, wet and dry. They show the size of the gap, not our market: Swastha works on the logistics of dry and reject waste.

Our approach

We don’t replace the people who move waste. We give them a record.

  1. Work with the people already doing the job

    Haritha Karma Sena units, kabadiwalas and existing aggregators keep their customers and their margins. We bring tools, not competition.

  2. Record every movement we handle

    Today Swastha logs each trip with the vehicle, the stops, photos and the weight delivered. Next, we want the same record for hand-offs between households, dealers, aggregators and recyclers.

  3. Manage by exception

    We design for rules to make routine choices, such as which vehicle takes a job, and for people to step in only when the rules can’t. That way the network can grow faster than our team.

See how Swastha connects the chain

Explore Swastha