Waste disposal methods: Turning garbage into profit

Abstract

Through this study, we aim to understand the potential to run business ventures that bridge two conflicting aims of social welfare and business profit. Most businesses either make money or end up losing heavily in the process of focusing on social and environmental concerns. But, we would like to examine the scope of running a business that balances both concerns. Our area of study, for the same, would be waste management ventures; an extremely pressing concern. Waste management is a rising area of interest for governments, local bodies, institutions, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs as well. There is immense scope of contributing to an increasingly choking planet through ventures in this sector. But, increasingly, there arises a threat of sidelining and overlooking the bottom of the pyramid in this field; namely the rag pickers and the extremely poor. This problem sparked our interest in this field. We have, in this process, conducted extensive research over the past two months. This has gotten us in touch with NGOs like Saahas in Bangalore, start-ups and ventures in Bangalore and other metros like Chennai and Delhi. Several prominent personalities and members from these institutions have gladly given their time and shared their knowledge, thus contributing immensely to this study. We would like to thank them and Professor Sourav Mukherji at IIM Bangalore for their invaluable guidance. Thus, through a mix of observations & interviews, primary and secondary research, we would like to answer the question: