Tired of garbage piling up outside your gate or in your storeroom? Corporation-appointed garbage collectors don’t show up at your area?
Forget them, get online and get rid of your recyclable garbage via kuppathotti.com.
India’s first trash collectors who network the Internet to take online bookings and make phone appointments, kuppathotti.com has more than 2,500 registered members from across Chennai since its launch in November last year.
The brainchild of a young couple who want to get all non-biodegradable waste out of the streets, the minimalist website could pass off as that of a corporate firm or a bank. Users can register their address and phone number and select the type of trash they need picked up.
“Our representatives will call them the previous day and make an appointment before picking up the garbage. We use electronic weighing machines and pay market rates for each item we collect. Our main focus is plastic and polyethene — the two worst litter materials that should be wiped out from our environment,” said Joseph Jegan (29), co-founder of kuppathotti.com and an MNC staffer.
Kuppathotti buys newspapers for Rs 7 per kg, milk packets for Rs 6 per kg and plastics for Rs 9 per kg. A detailed price list for 20 different materials is available on the website.
Joespeh’s wife Sujatha, who heads kuppathotti.com, works with 13 employees who devise efficient collection routes to finish all pending requests within 12 days.
"Kuppathotti.com is partly a business and partly social work. There are many NGOs working for environment awareness, but kuppathotti is a self-sustained organisation that can make a difference. Most of our clients are young professionals who want to segregate garbage at its source, but are pressed for time. This service makes it more convenient for them,” says Sujatha, who sits at Kuppathotti’s Ashok Nagar office, pointing out that they are working overtime to recruit more staff and acquire a few more collection vehicles.
Apart from trash requests, they also take task requests and arrange for reliable electricians, plumbers and carpenters, with no commission.