Business Ideas for a sustainable future…

Hello,

I am keen to bring Green Mantras of ‘Re-pair, Re-cycle and Re-sell’ in the Economic mainstream! In this post, I wish to share some of my ideas with you. 

But before that, here is a brief background of why such an initiative is required.

All right-thinking people would agree that wasting is bad. This is especially true when the world is reeling under the twin crises of ‘Shortages’ and ‘Waste Mismanagement’.

However, ways of giving a ‘longer life or a respectable after-life’ to products, are not as readily available, specifically to the residents of UAE. Either they are difficult to locate or pin-point or are economically unattractive.

I am sharing a gist of some such ideas, with a view to network with those who have similar inclination and are willing to work with me in this direction.

1. Providing an online communication platform for ‘owners of to-be-repaired goods’ (residential or commercial) on one hand and ‘Repair service providers’ on the other
2. Similar model to promote recycling of goods (including recycling and composting)
3. Online Flea market (facilitating existing models of business to complete greater number of transactions)

 

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Pratima Pandey

 

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Toward Zero Waste: Waste Pickers Running Biogas Plants in Mumbai, India | Other Worlds

Toward Zero Waste: Waste Pickers Running Biogas Plants in Mumbai, India | Other Worlds.

Classic example of waste creating real jobs for those who really need it (low-income group female waste pickers) in a city which badly needs (organic) waste management (Mumbai)

Kudos to NGO, Stree Mukti Sanghatana (SMS) for bringing to existence, Parisar Vikas (PV) program to train informal recyclers as “parisar bhaginis,” or “neighborhood sisters.”

A key innovation in PV’s model is the adoption of a locally viable technology for biogas creation, called the Nisargruna Biogas Plant.

Plant operation is relatively simple as the technology was designed to be used by non-skilled workers. (More on this in the above article)

Benefits:

• Unlike composting operations, a biogas plant does not create unpleasant decomposing odors
• Does not take up a large amount of space – Only 50 m2 are required for a plant that processes 100 kg per day.
• The resulting biogas is 85 percent methane, more efficient than the 50 percent methane typical of most biogas plants, which SMS attributes to Nisargruna’s two-step aerobic/anaerobic process.
• Reduces the need for waste pick up, transport, and disposal, as well as the pollution associated with these activities. It also avoids the pollution that results from landfilling wet waste: methane emissions, toxic leachate, and odors.