Our role in Saamuhika Shakti

At Social Alpha, we imagine an India where entrepreneurs and innovators have access to the resources they need to create deep and irreversible impact. We support entrepreneurs who are creating compelling solutions to fight poverty and address India’s intractable developmental challenges.

As a part of Saamuhika Shakti, we aim to nurture ventures that are not only redefining management and processing of multiple waste streams but also catalysing a profound shift in the narrative surrounding informal waste pickers. They enable informal waste pickers to lead secure and dignified lives and change their perceptions about their work and contribution in a positive manner.

What We Do

Social Alpha has a strong alignment with Saamuhika Shakti’s vision of enabling waste pickers to become key players in a global circular system. We believe that a convergence of innovation and social inclusion can bring about an irreversible impact in the waste management industry while building income stability and increased income for the informal waste pickers.

The program achieves this by selecting impactful start-ups through a multi-step evaluation process. The winning cohort is provided with market validation opportunities through on-ground pilots, technology and business advisory support, mentorship with experts from the waste management sector, market access support and access to seed capital. In parallel the waste pickers are provided with stable employment opportunities through long-term engagement with start-ups. They receive a range of training and skill building courses on the job, are provided with a safe and conducive work environment, flexible work hours, and opportunities for upward mobility within the operations of the start-ups.

How we do it

The program under Saamuhika Shakti was launched in November 2020. Over the course of three years, we selected two cohorts consisting of nine start-ups. The enterprises were selected based on their potential to positively impact the lives of the informal waste pickers and successfully deploy innovative waste management solutions on ground.

A brief description of the start-ups is as follows:

Loopworm: Revolutionizes insect farming by converting waste to insect derived protein for animal feed.
MuddleArt: Works with pre-consumer textile waste and offers sourcing and segregation services in order to improve recycling and traceability of textile waste.
Phool: Uses its proprietary ‘flowercycling®’ technology to upcycle flower waste generated in and around temples and convert it into multiple products - including charcoal-free incense and a sustainable alternative to animal leather called Fleather.
Swachha Ecosolutions: Tackles post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste to create raw material granules for recycled plastic products.
Ashaya: Upcycles the toughest types of plastic (post-consumer multi-layered plastic packaging) into high-quality products, using deep science and technology.
Bare Necessities: Creates premium, high-quality products for personal care, lifestyle and homecare using ethically sourced and sustainable raw materials.
EcoSattva: Partners with communities and government bodies to establish solid waste management systems, focusing on resource utilisation, environmental sustainability as well as the dignity of labour.
Padcare Labs: Offers an automated menstrual hygiene management system that can break down disposed sanitary pads into cellulose and plastic that can be upcycled into new products.
Reti Ecotech: Converts end-of-life textiles into panels that can be used to create furniture, brick cladding and acoustic insulators.

Activities and impact

Cohort 1

Number of informal waste pickers hired through the program	26
Weighted average increase in income of waste pickers	158%
Quantum of waste diverted from landfills (kgs)	3,902,000
Total GHG emissions avoided (kg CO2e)	23,85,072

Loopworm:

Pilot: Loopworm processed 51 tonnes of waste through their pilot and employed 2 informal waste pickers.
Fundraise: The start-up successfully raised their seed round, benefiting greatly from the Saamuhika Shakti pilot which confirmed the effectiveness of their technology and established a strong product-market fit, drawing the attention of key investors.

Phool:

Pilot: The pilot implemented with Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi enabled Phool to scale up their operations and ramp up their R&D for developing ‘Fleather’- a sustainable alternative to leather. The start-up employed 17 informal waste pickers and collaborated with PVH Corporation, the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, to create bags using fleather.
Fundraise: Social Alpha supported Phool in raising follow-on funding from mainstream consumer centric investors.

Swachha Ecosolutions:

Pilot: As part of the Saamuhika Shakti pilot the start-up set out to create Swachha Repolymix. Multilayer plastics (low value plastic grades) are processed into Repolymix which is added to asphalt for road construction and surfacing. The start-up hired 4 informal waste pickers for the pilot and trained them on processing methods and technical aspects of plastic recycling.

Muddle Art:

Pilot: The start-up diverted 13 tonnes of textile waste from landfills during the pilot and employed 3 informal waste pickers. They established a new unit in Bengaluru and through the support of H&M India, secured a contract with Shahi Industries and Cotton World to source pre-consumer textile waste.
Fundraise: The start-up raised seed capital funding from Social Alpha and other investors.

Cohort 2

Number of informal waste pickers hired through the program	15
Weighted average increase in income of waste pickers	57%
Quantum of waste diverted from landfills (kgs)	37,696
Total GHG emissions avoided (kg CO2e)	25,454

Ashaya:

Pilot: The start-up upscaled their R&D lab to process 100 kgs of MLP (multi-layered plastic) per month, and launched the world’s first recycled sunglasses made from MLP waste. They employed 8 informal waste pickers and enabled a 100% increase in their average income.

Bare Necessities:

Pilot: The start-up launched new SKUs with waterless formulations, ensured zero-waste packaging for products and employed 1 informal waste picker during the pilot. They were also certified as a cruelty free company that does not test their products on animals, by PETA in November 2022.

Ecosattva:

Pilot: As part of the Saamuhika Shakti pilot EcoSattva identified and implemented BOTRAM framework in 5 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra. B-O-T-R-A-M is a six-step process that overhauls, fortifies and enables the MSW (municipal solid waste) machinery to deliver a waste management system that is regular, reliable, safe and sustainable, while achieving a resource recovery potential of 90%. The start-up employed 2 informal waste pickers to support their pilot operations.

Padcare:

Pilot: Through the pilot, the start-up began menstrual hygiene management services in two housing societies in Bengaluru, diverted more than 4500 pads from landfills and employed 2 informal waste pickers.
Fundraise: The start-up raised seed capital funding from Social Alpha and other investors.

Reti Ecotech

Pilot: Reti incorporated fire resistance into their textile panels and completed testing for compressive strength of textile bricks and acoustic absorption coefficient of textile panels. They employed 2 informal waste pickers to support pilot operations.