A startup registered in Kerala has come up with a disruptive model of integrated waste management for large residential communities, utilizing technology, manpower and supply chain, which according to them can also be easily adopted at ward levels by local bodies.
Green Lease service by Noval Sustainability Solutions, registered with the Kerala Startup Mission, uses an array of equipment like automatic composters, shredders and incinerators to efficiently manage waste within their premises.
“Normally all this waste would go to a dump yard or a landfill which could harm the environment. What we offer is a monthly subscription-based service and the interesting thing is that there is no capital investment required,” says Siva Sankar, managing director of Noval. But Green Lease has a requirement of a minimum of 100 apartments or houses for their lease service, a multi-year contract. “The staff who manage the waste would also be on our payroll and the monthly subscription fee per household would be an average Rs 150,” says Siva Sankar, an alumnus of NIT and IIM-Kozhikode.
The machines can easily be mounted on terrace or vacant spaces and would take up less space than required to park two cars for a tonne of waste. The automatic composters would generate organic manure from the biodegradable waste loaded into it, while shredders are used to manage the volume of the non-biodegradable waste.
“Shredders are very important in our concept. It helps us to manage volume. We also use a conveyor system for waste handling. Four workers and one staff are required to handle five tonnes of waste,” says Siva Sankar. For large residential complexes with 1,000 living units the space required would be just around 500 sq ft. “We are not in the business of collecting waste. We only dispose them at source, which means anyone taking our service can get a certificate which proclaims them a zero waste society,” says Siva Sankar, who feels the cost-efficient model can also be adopted by local bodies in the state. “The model would also help generate at least ten jobs in a local body if there is support from the government,” he said.
Noval currently handles waste for residential communities in Bengaluru and Pune and their range of technological products, including organic waste converters (OWC) and incinerators, have been adopted widely. “In Whitefield, Bengaluru, we have been managing 5,000 homes for the past two years. We also run a protein extraction unit in north Kerala which renders slaughter waste,” says Siva Sankar.
