A three-year-old city-based startup which hacked out a solution for urban waste using RFID, Sensor and biometric devices won a ₹ 20 lakh cheque at the Innovate for Digital India Challenge-2 on Tuesday at T-Hub.
Led by Raj Madangopal and Mani Vajipey, the Banyan Sustainable Waste Management Pvt. Ltd. came up with an end-to-end smart waste management solution.
“Our role is that of a humble programme manager. We facilitate things,” said Jay Krishnan of T-Hub where the competition was held with over 2,700 entries which was whittled down to 800 and finally 10.
The other competitors who made it to the final stage had equally exciting innovations ranging from a wearable device for senior citizens to child health to reduced infant mortality.
“We have begun using technology to transform the country. This is a journey of innovation where design thinking has been instilled in the startups. We are just enablers who can make it happen,” said Prakash Mallya of Intel which has partnered the current initiative.
“What we have created is a platform that can be used to track the flow of waste. The data about how much waste is generated, how much has been picked up and where it is can be tracked. Biometric devices for workers to log in, GPS equipped trucks, bin sensors and RFID tracking ensure that there is a bird’s eye view of waste from the ward level so that there are no loose ends in waste management, segregation and recycling,” said Mr. Raj.
Interestingly, 15 students of Regional Engineering College, Warangal were part of the effort to create this waste tracking solution.
Banyan Nation is eyeing an MoU with the Telangana Government for implementing similar solution in other cities to create sustainable waste management solutions.
