Potential Kingdom Business model In India
This mom and pop company in India combined a plastic collection and "poly fuel" production and sales company in a dense
Our two new machines, one that we launched in 2013 and the other
in 2015, use up every bit of the byproducts, including the gases,” says
Tadpatrikar, noting that even the leftover sludge can be mixed with bitumen to
create roads.
One of the
machines that Rudra now operates tackles 220 pounds of plastic at a time, while
the other can work with substantially more – 2,645 pounds. The plastic waste is
heated to about 300 degrees F., at which point gas is released. The gas is then
cleaned and used as an energy source to keep the machines working. At 570 to
660 degrees, fuel is created in the form of condensation.
“These machines
can generate 45 to 65 liters [12 to 17 gallons] of polyfuel from 100 kilograms
[220 pounds] of plastic through a process known as gasolysis,” Tadpatrikar
elaborates.
The ReThe fuel churned out by the two machines is carefully collected in bottles, and it’s sold to people in 122 villages around Pune at a subsidized rate of 38 rupees (53 cents) per liter. It’s a boon for villagers like Nanda Shinde, who can’t afford to buy any other fuel.
“Ever since I started using this polyfuel, my life has become so much easier,” says Ms. Shinde, a poor farmer from Jejuri, a quiet village on the outskirts of Pune. “Earlier, I’d spend hours chopping down trees for firewood for my stove. And in the monsoons, when the wood is soggy, I’d have to burn plastic bags to cook a meal on,” explains Shinde, who toils in the fields, attends to household chores, and looks after her family of six from the first light of dawn until the last of the evening.
“Now I give my waste plastic to Rudra, and I am doing this so my children will have a cleaner world to live in,” adds Shinde, who has taken part in awareness sessions organized by the group and encourages her fellow villagers to also separate plastic from other waste.
Rudra has an extensive operation to round up plastic waste. It gathers items from 10,000 households across Pune, and Tadpatrikar recently bought two small vehicles to help with the collection.
“I’m willing to travel anywhere across the city to pick up plastic that we can rescue from its landfill destiny,” Tadpatrikar says.
From used ballpoint-pen refills and plastic packaging to broken toys and old plastic objects, Tadpatrikar and Phadtare gather every bit of plastic waste to convert it into fuel. “We ask people to wash out the milk packets or containers used to store fresh food before they send it off to us. But everything else can be sent just as it is,” Tadpatrikar notes
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