Wizards of Waste 3R Management Private Limited
Manish Pathak, 40, founded NoKooda, later rechristened 3RMPL, in 2013 with his brother Manoj. The idea had struck his brother when, leaving for work one day, garbage from a truck had fallen on him. Manish, an alumnus of BIT, Mesra, who had worked with the likes of C-DAC, HCL and TCS in the US before returning to India to start his own IT company with TCS ex-colleague Paras Arora, readily agreed. Manoj died two years back, but Manish and Paras are carrying their collective vision forward.
3R Management’s urban waste management model focuses on providing decentralised solutions along with technical and operational aid. Indigenous technology is deployed close to the location of waste generation to eliminate transport costs and convert the waste into a useful byproduct for which a supply chain is then created.
Manish, MD, and Paras, 42, co-founder and CEO, say they were lucky when they launched their company as it coincided with the government’s Swachh Bharat initiative. At the same time, it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of convincing on their part to get the PWD to allow them to set up their first plant at India Gate. “We wanted to reduce the degradation of green waste so as to eliminate the formation of methane gas,” says Paras.
Part of their vision also involves creating grassroots entrepreneurs. They provide machines, train people and enter into contracts with cities and towns to offer solutions on waste problems. They have now started a waste management company for Leh and Ladakh, with about 35 people working for them.
A lot of people ask them why they “jumped into garbage” after such successful careers. “We all carry a default surname from birth: koodawala. The journey is to make it safaiwala,” says Manish.
—Chinki Sinha