Get paid for your junk

Noida-based company EcoWise is planning to expand operations to Mumbai in a bid to pimp the garbage collection sector, create jobs, and give you an incentive to segregate waste

Noida-based company EcoWise is planning to expand operations to Mumbai in a bid to pimp the garbage collection sector, create jobs, and give you an incentive to segregate waste

How would you like a uniformed waste collector to come to your doorstep, collect your garbage, pay you for your recyclable waste and treat it organically? Come 2013, and this will be a reality. Started in 2005, Noida-based company EcoWise is the answer to residential, commercial and industrial entities' waste management needs. It acts as a single vendor that collects, segregates, transports, recycles, and treats MSW (Municipal Solid Wastes).


An EcoWise's landfill site, where waste is recycled into compost

Founder Manik Thapar, a Canadian citizen of Indian origin recollects, "During my stay abroad, I found that North American Indians and visiting Indians often commented on the bureaucracy, pollution and filth in India. While, I didn't know how to change the bureaucracy, I knew a lot could be done to clean India. That was my motivation to enter the waste management business."

How is EcoWise different from the government's waste management programme? "EcoWise works under an umbrella model. We collect from the source, transport, segregate and then treat organic waste. Our services can be customised to suit our clients' needs. Our work is in the private sphere. In contrast, the government programmes work on a (Purchasing power parity) basis. We aren't supported by the government."

EcoWise also creates job opportunities. "We manage about 120 tons of waste on a daily basis. We have employed 150 personnel to collect waste and we provide all of them with free housing and healthcare."

EcoWise's next stop is Goa and they should arrive in Mumbai by the end of 2013. They are communicating with local companies in Mumbai to partner and adopt the EcoWise model.

If you want to be part of the initiative, visit www.eco-wise.biz and take up the various volunteering opportunities available. You could also do your bit by joining the Clean India movement.

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