The real art of living is living in sync with nature, leaving the least carbon footprint and reducing the burden caused by human activity on nature. Taking a step forward, Pom Pom, a web-based recycling platform established in November last year, cleansed the mess left behind by the World Cultural Festival 2016 as the recycling partner. Ensuring that it does not end up in a landfill and gets recycled, Pom Pom loaded trucks with recyclables such as plastic bottles, empty packets of eatables, polythene sheets, polystyrene paper plates and other bits of trash, which had become a common sight on the riverbed.
Pom Pom is a one of a kind trash to cash service that pays you for your unwanted recyclable trash. It was the sheer waste of recyclable material that inspired the founders, Deepak Sethi and Kishore Thakur to launch the start-up. “The inspiration for Pom Pom came from our 10 year experience in the waste management sector. We saw tonnes of recyclable waste being discarded and ending up in landfills. That’s when we decided to promote waste separation and recycling by paying people for their segregated recyclables,” says Deepak Sethi, the CEO of Pom Pom. It also works towards sensitising people to the need for recycling by conducting workshops in schools, training in corporate offices and restaurants making them aware of the fact that one tonne of paper can save 17 trees and recycling one aluminium canister can save enough energy to run a TV for three hours.”
The idea behind its name is to take us back to our school or college annual events, where usage of pom pom by cheerleaders was quite common. “Traditional kabadiwala has been recognised by sound and Pom Pom wishes to be recognised by its name which is easy to remember and connects with everyone, including kids,” says Deepak. Helping dispose off recyclable waste in a responsible manner at one’s doorstep, the venture started with operations in South Delhi. Planning to scale up its services to the entire Delhi and NCR in future, Pom Pom also plans to set up a recycling plant later this year. “We are very happy with the response we have been getting. Our customers include households, offices, embassies and restaurants. On an average we are collecting about 70 orders everyday,” adds Deepak. One of the USPs of Pom Pom is its usage of electronic weighing scales to provide the right value for recyclables. Price per kg of waste is available on website and app. “You can book them as per your convenience through a call or message. Pom Pom team visits, weighs and pays in cash without any delays,” claims Deepak. After collecting, they segregate waste in different categories and supply them to industries that make recycled products.
