CHENNAI: Let’s recall some simple math — 1 tonne is equal to 1,000 kilograms. Now that we’re all up to speed, what if I told you that 5,400 tonnes of solid waste is collected from just Chennai every day? That simple multiplication will give you a result with a long trail of zeroes. With 68 per cent of it coming from residences, despite knowledge about recycling and segregation techniques, the waste still seems to end up being dumped at street corners and open dustbins. Aiming to change this dynamic is Trashman Green Technology, a young start-up by five of the city’s residents — Santharam, Udhayakumar, Shiju Kingsly, Diwaker and Vedha Vijay. 

In a fast-paced society, where the biggest winners are those who can deliver right to your doorstep, Trashman decided to apply it to waste collection too. Launched in October of 2018, as a project in college, it has now evolved into a full waste-management, recycling and segregation business. “Engineers by profession, we were trying to solve the problem of how better the waste could be managed and recycled,” says Santharam. Now, they spend their day driving their truck through various localities, collecting solid dry waste, e-waste and all recyclable biological waste from residents for a small price and segregating it at the warehouse into recyclable and non-recyclable materials. 

But setting them apart from the other waste collection drives in the city is their new android app of the same name, launched in July 2019. “We wanted to create an app where the customer could be in and out within five seconds. That’s the level of ease you can expect from our app,” says Santharam. All it takes is to create an account, set the date of the collection, select the type of trash, and click ok. And voila! You’ve just made a choice to dispose of your dry waste consciously. Trashman now operates in Tambaram, Chromepet, Perungalathur and Perumbakkam. 

Streamlining their process, and learning as they go, the team also has lately worked with government schools in the city to make them zero-waste zones. A proof of their increasingly recognised efforts is the recent involvement of the Enactus club from Rajalakshmi Engineering College (REC). “It’s been great working with the young students from Enactus REC. They’re full of new ideas, and they were the ones who suggested that we move towards reusability in the waste as well,” he says. Looking down the road of inevitable hurdles that makes a start-up, Santharam is optimistic about Trashman. The least we could do is learn, segregate and recycle.