Seamless recycling, the Bintix way

Recycling is the solution to avert contamination of soil through landfills and pollution of surface water and air. Streamlining the process of recycling effectively to protect the environment and to reduce carbon footprint is what tech-enabled sustainability-focused startup Bintix Waste Research Private Limited does.

The Hyderabad-based startup was founded in June 2018 by long-time friends and PhD holders, Udit Patidar, Jayanarayan Kulathingal and Roshan Miranda, who has between them an experience of 12 to 15 years in the corporate sector.

Roshan Miranda also holds an experience of over four years in the waste management sector, as the founder of Waste Ventures, a digital recyclable pickup platform for commercial establishments and corporates. From here, the idea to serve households took birth and so did Bintix.

On similar lines, there are few other startups in the city providing, the service of collecting household recyclable dry waste. For this, Udit Patidar says, "All the players in the market have the sole purpose of not letting dry waste reach landfills.

Besides, we are serving communities that the competitors are not. Our presence is mostly in the western parts of Hyderabad. Moreover, there is enough demand and space for multiple players to coexist."

Over a period of one year, Bintix has served more than 3,000 households in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, from over 30 communities, leading to 76,000 pickups. With this, more than 163 metric tonnes of dry waste has been recycled, saving over 415 metric tonnes of carbon footprint.

Bintix serves small communities, individual villas and a block of apartments in gated communities. A household partnering with Bintix for recycle of dry waste is provided with a QR code and a recycled bag with a bar code.

The subscription-based model is free of cost. However, customers need to pay for the bags. "We provide more value added services like the recycled bags to fill the dry waste, a zip tie to lock it and an online login for the customer to keep a tab on the quantity of waste given, the carbon footprint, amount of waste recycled and the number of trees saved," says Patidar.

The startup partners with waste management companies like Waste Ventures in Hyderabad and Shudhlabh in Bengaluru for collecting the waste and sorting it.

A pickup agent visits these households weekly once and scans the QR code which communicates to the system that the agent has reached the house. If the customer is not present at home and has left the bag outside, the agent through Bintix mobile application will scan the bar code on the bag.

This notifies the backend system about a recyclable dry waste bag collected from the specific house, along with the day and time. Post this, the bag is weighed, and the customer is paid Rs 4 to 10 per kg, through digital modes of money transfer.

Currently, the mobile app which is used by the agent and customer is available for free download to the Android users on Google Play Store.

Patidar adds, "We do not differentiate between low value and high value materials. We collect even the smallest piece of chocolate wrapper and lower quality vegetable covers, which otherwise are disposed off even by rag pickers.

They in turn pollute the soil or water bodies. At present, we have a backlog of 300-400 houses which we are not able to serve. There is more demand for service than that can be supplied right now."

Bintix has a warehouse in Shamshabad on Hyderabad outskirts, spreading over 8,000 sft. Here, the dry recyclable waste is segregated by sorting experts having the ability to differentiate between 31 types of materials. The sorted waste then is sold to 31 specific recyclers placed across India.

The startup has provided livelihoods to 33 people including Bintix's 12 employees from the tech and operations team in Hyderabad and the rest being waste collectors and segregators employed by their partner waste management company, in this city and Bengaluru.

The founder takes pride in informing that the segregators are mostly women, who were earlier waste pickers themselves, and now after being associated with Bintix, they are benefitted with a monthly pay along with benefits of provident fund and insurance.

At present, Bintix serves 800 households in Bengaluru and the rest 2,200 in Hyderabad. For developing the technology and team, it has bootstrapped Rs 2.7 crore over a period of one year. The founders are looking to raise Rs 10 to 11 crore in its pre-series A round of funding.

The funds will be utilised to expand its service in the existing markets along with four metro cities, to add on new features to the mobile app and to develop their backend technology.

By end of 2020, the startup intends to have its presence in over 20,000 households across the existing two metro cities along with Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and tier 2 cities like Vishakapatnam, Indore, Ahmedabad or Lucknow. Going ahead, on the same lines of partnership, the founders will look to tie up with waste management companies in these cities as on-ground partners.

Besides keeping a track on the carbon footprint, Bintix is also leveraging on data analytics to later collaborate with government agencies and manufacturers, under extended producer responsibility, a policy manufacturers are supposed to be in compliance with – a significant responsibility of producers for treatment or disposal of their customer-used product.

'Our environment is already facing the brunt of waste filled on lands and drained into water bodies. Accountability is not only on the part of the government, but also that of the users and makers.

To ensure fulfilment of this accountability, startups and platforms like Bintix have taken birth. The need of the hour is to educate consumers about saving the environment from further harm and utilise the seamless service provided by startups like us," concludes Patidar.