Recycling

Trash2Cash is led by people who live in slums and are trained and paid to collect and recycle corporate and household waste in urban areas. This waste is segregated at the source and diverted from the landfills, which are slowly encroaching upon the East Kolkata Wetlands, to produce compost. Paper waste is recycled to produce value-added products in women-led workshops and organic waste is turned into compost.

This community-based solid waste management business model addresses two challenges. It offers people living in slums employment opportunities and it reduces the environmental hazards of open waste dumps.

Resolve: Trash2Cash is not only scalable but also replicable in other urban poor areas around the world.

Other urban areas can replicate the enterprise’s supply-driven waste management system. Partnerships can be created with corporate offices that do not have a system for recycling in place. The paper can be easily recycled into products such as pen stands, dustbins, photo frames, etc. The waste collected for compost has a large market demand in the urban, agricultural and government sectors.