T-Hub startup Banyan Nation signs MoU with Telangana govt for e-waste management

As the government of Telangana launched its policy on e-waste management, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with T-Hub startup Banyan Nation to support the government in developing a standard operating procedure for government-generated e-waste.

Banyan Nation’s IoT-enabled dashboard for waste management will also be extended to the government.

A recent ASSOCHAM study estimates that India produces 13 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste every year, with Hyderabad being the sixth largest generator amounting to 25,000 MT.

Recognising the need for e-waste management, Telangana government launched an e-waste policy on Tuesday to protect the environment and create awareness in managing e-waste by segregating and channelizing end-of-life products to the right avenues.

Through this policy, the state will assist the unorganised sector to transition into an organized sector, creating an e-waste refurbishing and recycling ecosystem.

This is Banyan Nation’s second partnership with the Telangana government after it tied up with the state government for efficiency in waste management.

Founded by Mani Vajipey and Raj Madangopal in 2013 as a plastic recycling startup, Banyan Nation initially mapped out waste collectors across Hyderabad through a mobile app and was engaged in segregating and recycling plastic.

In June this year it won the Intel & DST Innovate for India Challenge 2.0, for which it created a zero-waste platform to streamline and automate urban recycling operations at every stage.

It has deployed this in Warangal to help cut down costs right from collection, transportation to land filling of waste.

Currently in beta stage, as part of its pilot project, Banyan Nation has deployed on-field bin sensors, GPS truck routers, landfill management toolkits, back-end visualization and analytic engines to monitor and synchronize waste management.

Mani has earlier said that it plans to roll out this platform to other tier 2, 3 cities in the state of Telangana.

Banyan last raised capital of $800,000 from Artha Capital, run by the global PE firm KKR and Shujog, a not-for profit-initiative by Impact Investment Exchange (IIX). 

This article has been produced with inputs from T-Hub as a part of a partner program.