Hardik Shah, a resident of Ahmedabad, is an instrumentation and control engineer by qualification who after working in the information technology (IT) space for many years, decided to become an entrepreneur. In 2017, Hardik launched his cleantech startup called – Innovate Green Technologies Private Limited.
Here, customers can leverage their waste to buy recycled products.
Hardik says, “The idea for this business took shape when I visited Japan in 2011 for work. There I saw first-hand how they approached waste management and found workable solutions for the problems that cropped up. That trip got me thinking and I did my own research on issues pertaining to the environment. Since leveraging technology was something I was confident about, I used it to create an app.”
He continues, “I was inspired to create a system that could help people solve global warming by quantification. To understand the gravity of any situation, quantifying it makes people take it seriously. The ultimate goal in creating this cleantech company is to make environmental conservation a priority.”
The app developed by his team is currently available on the Google Play store and connects consumers, waste collection partners, product delivery partners, recyclers, zero-waste product manufacturers, sellers, artisans, and manufacturing brands with each other. It allows users to sell their waste and buy recycled products from the platform.
Speaking about what one can buy using waste, he says, “You can get just about anything with the waste you exchange on the app. For example, you can get a pizza by paying for waste or a wide range from kitchen and tableware to bathroom essentials, decorative products, and even skincare products.
Having started in 2017 with recycled products, their platform has more than 80 different vendors and more than 5,000 active subscribers today.
As of now the pick-up service for waste is available only in Ahmedabad but the team is looking to expand to other cities very soon. Despite many challenges, in the beginning, Hardik persisted and has successfully worked on his initial idea and also raised two rounds of capital from early investors.