Even as India ramps up its waste collection efforts, it is equally critical to ensure that plastic waste goes where its true value can be realised – and that the process of getting it there is both transparent and verifiable.

Through ParikraM, a partnership with startup Recity, the Alliance is funding much-needed tech-enabled Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) across Indian cities. At the same time, it is supporting Waste Intelligence (WI), a digital ecosystem that connects waste collectors to waste buyers, and ensures waste is traceable from source to recovery.

During the Early Impact phase between April 2022 and May 2023, every bale of plastic waste collected through clean-ups or diverted from dumpsites in the southeastern city of Puducherry was logged, and its journey to co-processing or recycling, documented and certified. A total of 1,566 tonnes of waste was diverted during this phase.

A second phase, which took place between October 2022 and July 2023, saw a further 5,000 tonnes of plastic waste diverted from landfills, scrap dealers and informal aggregators in Puducherry, Mathura, Tamil Nadu and their vicinities.

The waste was tracked on a digital waste-handling platform called Cetraces, one of WI’s three products to close the loop on plastic waste. The other two are Ctyloop, which covers waste collection and management, and Cynkro, which automates the final leg of the waste’s journey, including EPR compliance.

Together, they ensure that buyers of plastic waste know where it comes from and, as importantly, demonstrate how these recyclates go on to be used.

A third phase is underway, with a goal to divert and valorise another 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste by end of 2023.

Steady progress is also being made on establishing MRFs in Mathura, Puducherry and Trichy – construction is underway in Mathura, and discussions with local authorities are ongoing in the other two cities.

At these MRFs, Recity’s Facilities Management Solution will track and provide insights on material sourcing, sorting, baling, and sales to further improve efficiency. They will also employ hundreds of waste workers, and improve their livelihoods with safe working conditions, better incomes, and access to social security schemes.

ParikraM is aligned with both the Indian government’s Digital India Flagship Programme and its Swachh Bharat (Clean India) mission. Over the last five years, Recity has steadily increased the rate of segregation and collection of waste. However, the lack of processing infrastructure meant that some of it was still being dumped in landfills, with low-value plastics left to languish.

The MRFs aim to close this gap and help ensure that waste – including low-value and hard-to-recycle plastics – are diverted for co-processing. The eventual goal is to build 12 MRFs in 6 cities, and recover and recycle at least 13.5 kilotonnes of post-consumer plastic waste per annum.

India generates an estimated 62 million tonnes of waste annually, of which less than 60% is collected and only 15% is processed. Through ParikraM, we’re helping to join the critical dots between collection and recycling, keeping plastics within the economy – and out of the environment.