Pranshu Singhal of KARO SAMBHAV declared the winner of 12th Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award – India 2021, presented by Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

Synopsis of the story

Pranshu Singhal is working to make the circular economy possible and is enabling enterprises to close their material loops. Karo Sambhav covers e-waste, plastic packaging waste, battery waste and glass and continues its exploration towards less scrutinised sectors like mattresses and textiles. Pranshu aims to shape and catalyse the set-up of a well-governed and accountable end-of-life waste management industry with transparent practices.

Pranshu Singhal from Karo Sambhav aims at making recycling a way of life in India and beyond. The organisation is working to make circular economy possible by building systems, platforms, and infrastructure for end-of-life (eol) waste collection and recycling, and utilization of recovered materials. It is creating an inclusive social movement, which drives long-term behaviour change, ensures participation from different sections of the society, is supported by the producers, and provides a fair value and opportunity to all the stakeholders involved in the waste management value chain. It collaborates with producers on circular economy and EPR frameworks for multiple waste categories.

Through pioneering practices, and strategic alliances with organisations like IFC, GIZ, ILO, WEEE Forum, PACE, Karo Sambhav’s programmes are helping shape the contours of the EOL waste management industry. Together with the world’s leading CPG brands, Karo Sambhav launched India’s first industry-led venture to solve the plastic waste crisis. It is the first organisation in the country to design and implement solutions for nationally regulated as well as voluntary waste streams. It covers e-waste, plastic packaging waste, battery waste and glass and continues its exploration towards less scrutinised sectors like mattresses, textiles.

A critical aspect of Karo Sambhav is its engagement with the informal sector (waste pickers, and aggregators). It has helped increase the average incomes of the marginalised informal waste pickers by providing them a fair value, building capacities, and creating livelihoods.

Karo Sambhav’s technology platform (mobile and web-app) gives it an edge by establishing transparency and traceability across the waste value chain and allow multiple stakeholders to be on a single platform.

Karo Sambhav has collected and enabled responsible recycling of over 23,000 MT of e-waste and plastics waste in the past four years and has prevented 21,100 MT of CO2 emissions. It has engaged with over 3,000 schools, over 500 bulk consumers, more than 5,000 informal workers in over 60 cities across 29 states of India.