Chennai couple goes online to recycle waste

Prathibha Parameswaran CNN-IBN | 20 Jun 2013 05:47 am

Chennai: A software engineer couple in Chennai have been troubleshooting all 'trash' problems. Chennai grapples with over 3,200 tonnes of solid waste everyday and much of it is recyclable. This struck two young software engineers, Sujatha and Jegan, the couple who started Kuppathotti.com in November, 2011. Kuppathotti, when translated in Tamil means a 'trash can'. This eco-friendly initiative also helps some souls to make a quick buck.

The process is simple - If you're in Chennai, all you need to do is log on and register. A call from the website follows to schedule a visit to your house. Pile up your empty milk covers, bottles, books, plastics, metal and paper waste. The Kuppathotti agents will then weigh them and even pay you for your junk.

For many like Hindi tutor Vasantha Ranganathan, this effort by the youngsters has come as a boon. "For people like us who are senior citizens, it's very difficult to carry things from home and we have to look forward for somebody's visit to help us. But these people are so helpful, we are so thankful that such a site has been created," Vasantha said.

The trash collected from the houses is then dumped in a godown where it's sorted and sold for recycling. The profits have not yet started trickling in but the business model generates a turnover of about Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per month. The founders now have bigger plans.

"Currently in India, the e-waste is not properly dismantled. So we're planning to concentrate more on the e-waste side soon," Jegan said.

Just six months since its inception, over 7,500 Chennaiites are already logging on to dump their trash. Sujatha and Jegan are planning to expand their operations to other cities too and for the moment it looks like their virtual trash can is only getting bigger.

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