$ 2 million support to start-ups for innovations in waste management

Bengaluru: Sweden-based H&M Foundation and Social Alpha have joined hands to launch "Techtonic – Innovations in Waste Management", a nationwide grand challenge to identify and curate locally designed, disruptive innovations addressing problems in waste management and improving the livelihood of waste-pickers.

Through "Techtonic – Innovations in Waste Management", H&M Foundation and Social Alpha aim to create an enabling ecosystem stack for innovators and entrepreneurs developing waste management solutions with a focus on supply chains efficiencies, logistics traceability and waste to value systems.

Top 5 winners of Tectonic will join the first cohort of Social Alpha Waste Innovations Accelerator and receive support in their lab-to-market journey. The accelerator will provide start-ups support with fully paid pilots, expert guidance, go to market strategy, ecosystem access and an opportunity to pitch for seed capital investment up to Rs 1 crore. First-of-its-kind, the accelerator has been designed to leverage the knowledge and strength of multiple stakeholders across Central, State and local government bodies, private sector and civil society to drive the uptake of high-impact and scalable technology innovations.

Karl-Johan Persson, Board Member of H&M Foundation, said "With H&M Foundation's entrepreneurial heritage and spirit, we see it as both essential and inspirational to use technology and innovation to create social change. New ideas are needed for positive development, and waste management and material recycling are fundamental components of a circular economy. We are happy to support this innovation challenge and are excited to see what impact it will have."

Manoj Kumar, Founder and CEO, Social Alpha, said, "We believe that climate action can be catalysed by accelerating entrepreneurial solutions to waste management challenges. Deep science and technology innovations will provide the much-needed impetus to create circular economic models and enhance livelihood opportunities for millions of waste warriors engaged in this sector. We are delighted to partner with H&M Foundation to nurture entrepreneurship for social, economic and environmental impact – which represents a unique triple bottom-line paradigm."

With an initial outlay of Rs 15 crore committed by H&M Foundation and Social Alpha, the programme will continue to seek more partners as it progresses in its journey. It has also forged partnerships with Start-up India, Invest India, AGNii, Government of Karnataka, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Saamuhika Shakti with the objective to scale this initiative across the country.

Saamuhika Shakti, the collective impact project, is the programme partner for problem curation, pilots and validations. It brings together multiple organisations - BBC Media Action, CARE, LabourNet, Hasiru Dala, Save the Children, WaterAid and The/Nudge Foundation to work towards a common agenda of enabling waste pickers to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives. This will ensure that the solutions are centered around creating sustainable, better livelihood and enhanced income opportunities for waste pickers.

Techtonic – Innovations in Waste Management has been announced in view of the rising amounts of waste generated from rapid urbanization in India. According to the World Bank, our country is the largest producer of waste in the world owing to its population size. As per a 2016 estimate, India generates 277 million tonnes of municipal solid waste every year. Lack of proper waste management has led to our cities grappling with overflowing landfills, which are hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions, oceans filling up with plastics and leachate from landfills leaking into the soil and groundwater.

While government support through policy and programmes on waste management has built momentum, highlighting the need for holistic solutions, true circularity can only be achieved through advancement in technological innovations and their widespread adoption.

Applications invited from startups

♦ Techtonic – Innovations in Waste Management is inviting applications from start-ups working on addressing the following challenges in waste management

♦ Network Optimization: Innovative solutions to build the supply chain efficiency of waste generated data for waste management: Technology solutions for end-to-end waste traceability, transparency and visibility of the waste supply chain

♦ Waste to Value: Enabling recycling and resource recovery from waste streams through innovations, with a focus on low value waste.