Rajeshwari, a battery-operated vehicle operator from Urbaser Sumeet, speaks at the roundtable.
The next time a plastic food container needs to be disposed of, make sure it is rinsed a sufficient number of times before being “offloaded” responsibly. Recycling items with food residue poses a challenge, they often end up in a dumping ground.
Two Chennai-based women entrepreneurns Desika Prabakar and Obulaxmi S., who run the non-profit DPurpose Foundation, have started conducting a series of events focussed on waste that nobody cares about.
Titled ‘Waste2Purpose’, the first in this 10-part series delved into the subject of non-recyclable plastic waste. Some of the other non-recyclable wastes include thermoset plastics used in packaging crockery, doors and floorings; multi-layered plastics; sanitary plastics, foam plastics and composite plastics
“Waste2Purpose aims to convert some of the most challenging waste streams into scalable, revenue-generating waste-to-value projects, with a strong focus on upskilling women and involving them in the circular economy,” says Desika Prabakar, founder and director, DPurpose Foundation.
Designed as a closed roundtable, the event has conservancy workers as chief guests along with Government, industry leaders, corporate CSR and investors coming together to analyse and establish projects that can resolve issues such as non-recyclable plastic waste with advanced technologies, says a release.
“We need advanced technology to recycle such hard plastics but there are not many who are willing to invest, so our event was aimed at bringing all stakeholders to one table and finding solutions including bringing investors,” says Desika that Krystal Venture Studios supported them as investor partner.
One of the first events was held at Startup TN Headquarters at Nandanam. Rajeshwari, a conservancy worker with Urbaser Sumeet, spoke about the realities of handling non-recyclable plastics, especially talking about the challenges faced by ground-level women waste workers every day.
Desika says there are gaps not only in technology but also in implementation. “Several such project machines get installed and due to lack of technical teams and consistent investments the machines gather dust. So the primary goal in this whole initiative is to employ women and upskill them in the whole value chain,” she says.
Technology solutions such as advanced pyrolysis, multi-layer plastic recycling, chemical recycling and refuse-derived fuel were presented before expert teams for end-to-end execution. The top two shortlisted finalists are now in stages for further funding. The best startup pitch was recognised as Thaal Innovations for its breakthrough solution converting PU foam waste into polyol through chemical recycling, enabling direct reintegration into the manufacturing supply chain, says the note.
“These two projects will now move into structured implementation under the Waste2Purpose framework. Next in line in the 10-part series is solutions for textile waste followed by hazardous, construction, mining, foundry, effluent, agri, paper and organic wastes,” says Desika.
Published – December 12, 2025 10:16 pm IST
