Wasteroots, a startup in Noida, supplies plants in exchange of old newspapers and paper waste, which is then recycled by paper mills.
With rising pollution levels, the dust-filled environment seems to be mocking the capital and the nearby regions. Through this haze comes a ray of hope in the form of Wasteroots. This startup aims at creating a greener Noida, by supplying plants in exchange of old newspapers and paper waste, which is then recycled by paper mills.
One day while contemplating about the never-ending pollution that is plaguing Noida, Sudha, a resident of Sector-122, decided that she wanted to quit her corporate job and do something beneficial for the society and that is how Wasteroots came up. The beginning was not easy, whenever she approached anyone with her proposal, people seemed to pay no heed, with doubts clouding the viability of the project. She told CitySpidey about the gender bias she faced, being a woman entrepreneur.
Even RWAs were not supportive as most of them had already tied up with scrap vendors and did not want any interference. Her staff was threatened as it was a marked territory of other vendors. Even guards wouldn’t let them enter the society and they would have to resort to seeking help from the residents, and this problem persists till date.
But now, with requests pouring in from all over NCR, she is looking forward to expanding her reach over the entire country one day. The process is very easy, the residents can simply call or message Wasteroots on Whatsapp. They also have an option of placing their request online on their website. The minimum required paper waste should weigh at least 11 kg. The residents have the option of choosing from a wide variety of beautiful plants or pots in exchange of waste paper which otherwise could only be traded off for a petty amount of money. Wasteroots has tied up with authorised vendors who direct the waste towards the paper mills. They have sold about 17,217 plants and recycled 137 tonnes of paper and are catering to about 3200 regular customers in Noida within a short span of 3 years.
The message which Sudha carries with herself is that everyone should segregate their waste and take the initiative upon themselves to restore the environment.
