Make a swachch move

Start-up is the new mantra for those bitten by the entrepreneurship bug. With government too supporting the new ventures and encouraging youngsters to innovate and ideate, there is a buzz in this sphere. However, working out a perfect plan for a successful venture is an uphill task. The Start-up Pitch is the first thing that potential investors look at when the entrepreneurs ask them for money or if they are looking for another business to add to their portfolio.From this week Jobs and Careers is going to present a start-up idea through a fortnightly column Start-up Pitch to help budding entrepreneurs to work out a winning plan

The idea?

The start-up idea is to establish a company which shall collect recyclable waste from households and make recycled products. The start-up will make products which can either be sold on its platform or other established e-commerce platforms for recycled products.

Market definition

Worldbank has reported some astonishing facts about global waste production, this validates the big market size. The facts are detailed below.

Global solid waste generation will increase to more than 6 million tonnes per day by 2025 from 3.5 million tonnes per day in 2010. The waste from cities alone is already enough to fill a line of trash trucks 5,000 kilometres long every day;

The global cost of dealing with all that trash is rising too: from $205 billion a year in 2010 to $375 billion by 2025, with the maximum increase in developing countries; and By 2100, it is estimated that the growing global urban population will produce three times as much waste as it does today.

Competitor Analysis

Because of the sheer potential of the businesses in the area of recycling, various companies are trying their hands at doorstep or valet recycling. There is POM POM in India and Wastepoint in the US. There are startups like Hipcyle which sell the recycled products online. The recycled products are made from products ranging from paper, aluminium to tyres.

Pain Point & Target Audience

The targeted customer market for this business is “Households”. Households produce a lot of trash which is not being properly managed, and as a consequence, the trash never reaches the recycling companies. In addition to this, due to non-segregation of waste materials, hazardous waste is getting mixed with recyclable waste, thereby impacting our health. 

Business Model

The start-up will collect the recyclable waste on demand from households and provide credit in return which can be used to buy recycled products from its platform. The start-up should tie up with recycling factories to optimise its upfront cost and recycle the waste into products which could be sold online. 

Way to market

The start-up will have to educate people about the benefits of recycling and the problems that it causes for the coming generations.  The start-up will also have to tie up with various NGOs working in the space of waste management.  In India one can look for a tie up with the government initiatives to gain traction. Many campaigns promote sustainability;  the endeavor should be to consider being a part of such campaigns.  The key to success of this start-up will be the sale of recycled products from its platform. 

Milestones

The start-up should target major cities . It should test and perfect its model with a couple of localities having a decent millennial population as they would have a higher propensity to use e-commerce platform. Model testing should be completed in between 3 to 6 months, and then the startups should expand in 3 to 4 major cities in the country in next 12 months. The leading indicator for the business model will be the amount of waste collected. And it should target to collect at least 10% of the city’s recyclable garbage by the second year.

Investment needed for prototype

For testing & building the prototype, pitch for raising $200,000 from angel investors or incubators. There are not many incubators that incubate recycling start-ups, but we did come across “Recycling Lives” which could be of interest. You should be prudent with funds and there should be no office rentals or salary payout; the entire budget should be apportioned for customer acquisition and technology.

Team capability

You would need a person with supply chain and logistics work experience to handle the complete segregation and material movement process. Having the second person with Environmental Science background will very well supplement the team’s capability.

— Inputs from Jappreet Sethi