In the 20th Century, the information and communication revolution has brought enormous changes in the way we organize our lives, our economies, industries, and institutions. The spectacular developments in modern times have undoubtedly enhanced the quality of our lives. At the same time, these have led to several problems including the problem of the massive amount of hazardous waste and other waste generated from electric products. These wastes pose a great threat to human health and environment. According to one report, nearly 75% of old electronics continue to be stored in households because of the unavailability of convenient Recycling options.

When people come to know about E-waste management their usual reaction is “Kabadiwala”. There are around 138 Registered E-waste Dismantler/Recycler in India. 2 units in Andra Pradesh, 1 unit in Chhattisgarh, 7 units in Gujarath, 13 units in Haryana, 52 units in Karnataka, 22 units in Maharastra, 2 units in Madhya Pradesh, 9 units in Rajasthan, 14 units (5 Recycler+9 Dismantler) in Tamil Nadu, 11 units in Uttara Pradesh, 4 units in Uttarakhand and 1 unit in West Bengal.

One among them is Namo E-waste, Faridabad based e-waste management start-up. Akshay Jain, founder of Namo E-waste management was doing his MBA from Greenwich University in the UK is where he saw how organized waste management worked, he was inspired by the robust recycling mechanism in place and wanted to do something similar in India. After graduating, Jain returned to India, in January 2014, founded Namo E-waste management because of the total lack of awareness about it and is the fastest growing solid waste stream.

It took almost a year to get the logistics in place and the company stated operations in August 2015. Namo E-waste now has a presence in 12 states and Union Territories through e-waste collection center and channel partners. The company has entered into contracts with large corporates and some of the prominent clients include Flipkart, TataSky, Havells, Volts, Godrej, and Telenor. The company also collects e-waste from housing societies, resident welfare associations, and individuals.

The e-waste collected by the company is segregated and usable devices and refurbished. The waste which is of no use is broken into extract commodities like copper, aluminum, iron etc which are sold to foundries.

Seeded with an investment of Rs. 2 crores, the startup generated a revenue of Rs. 4.4 crore in 2016-17. The company even run awareness campaigns to educate the people on this issue and also received welcome help in the form of government’s thrust on waste management.

Winner of the “Best Green Startup” and “Refurbisher of the year” by the Franchise of India, Namo E-waste is now looking to set up a precious metal recovery plant to extract Gold and Silver from e-waste and this will make one of the most prominent e-waste management facilities in the world.