Startup Let’s Recycle raises $2 million

AHMEDABAD: Let’s Recycle, an Ahmedabad-based recycling startup, has raised funding of about Rs 12 crore ($2 million) in its second round from social venture fund Aavishkaar. Sandeep Patel, founder and CEO of Let’s Recycle, declined to disclose the deal size, but confirmed the fund raise.

“We are expanding our capacity and improving our infrastructure. We have three existing facilities and will be adding two more,” said Patel. Let’s Recycle has developed a unique business model where commerce meets social cause. The company has enrolled over 950 waste pickers in Ahmedabad who are trained to identify the right kind of waste that fetches more value in the recycling market.

They are equipped with basic mobile phones and are trained to report over the phone while starting the day and to check in once they are done, so that the segregation of waste happens at the time of collections. According to a recent study by ASSOCHAM – cKinetics, value out of waste (VOW) is expected to touch $1.5 billion by 2017 in India from the current level of below `6,300 crore ($1 billion).