Circular supply chain | How Elima is transforming waste into resources

Elima, a Hyderabad-based company started in 2022, promotes circular economy by replacing traditional linear supply chains with circular models. They collaborate with various stakeholders to collect and process waste materials, converting them into recycled raw materials and high-quality pre-owned products. This is an excerpt from Cleantech Hero’s interaction with Abhishek Agashe – Co-founder & CEO at Elima.

How does Elima replace a linear supply chain with a circular model? What are the parts of this process, and who are the different stakeholders in this transformation?

At Elima, we replace the traditional linear supply chain with a circular model by focusing on urban mining and the circular economy. This involves several key processes:

• Collection: We partner with various stakeholders, including municipalities, businesses, and consumers, to collect waste materials. This step is crucial to ensure a steady supply of raw materials for recycling.

• Sorting and Processing: The collected waste is sorted and processed to extract valuable materials. We use advanced technologies for efficient sorting and extraction.

• Manufacturing: The recycled materials are then used to manufacture new products. This reduces the need for virgin raw materials and decreases the environmental impact.

• Distribution and Sales: We supply recycled raw materials and high-quality pre-owned products to businesses and consumers. This helps close the loop by ensuring that materials are continuously reused.

Stakeholders: The different stakeholders in this transformation include waste generators (households, businesses, and municipalities), waste management companies, recycling facilities, manufacturers, retailers, and end consumers. Collaboration among these stakeholders is essential for successful circular economy.

Please provide examples of creating a closed-loop supply chain for any of Elima’s work areas.

E-waste:

• Collection: We partner with corporates, electronic retailers, and service centres to collect end-of-use or end-of-life electronics.

• Pre-Processing: The e-waste is sorted, graded, and then sent for refurbishment or recycling.

• Refurbishing: Refurbished products are sold back into the market as pre-owned products with high quality and warranties.

• Dismantling: Products that are at their end of life are dismantled into different components and grades of base elements such as plastics, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, glass, rubber, oil, epoxy, etc.

• Recycling: We further process these base elements into value-added products through further recycling, smelting.

• Manufacturing: Extracted materials are used to produce new electronic components, which are then supplied to manufacturers.

Paper:

• Collection: We collaborate with schools, colleges, local municipalities, scrap dealers, businesses, etc., to collect paper waste, school notebooks, textbooks, printed paper, and packaging material such as cardboard from residential and commercial areas.

• Sorting and Grading: The material is then carried to our Material Recovery Facility where the paper waste is segregated into 10 different categories based on composition, colour, quality etc.

• Baling: The sorted streams are then baled into 1 Metric Tons bales.

• Manufacturing: These bales are transported to our partner paper mills to produce new packaging and stationery materials such as notebooks, diaries, carton boxes, etc.

Elima supplies recycled raw materials and high-quality pre-owned products for customers and businesses. Can you please clarify this statement with a couple of examples?

• Recycled Raw Materials: We provide recycled metals and plastics to manufacturers in the automotive and electronics industries. For example, our recycled aluminium is used by an automotive supplier company to produce car parts, reducing their carbon footprint and production costs. Other metals such as steel is used to manufacture TMT bars which are used in construction. Our plastics are mixed with virgin plastics to produce granules which are used in injection moulding applications to manufacture parts or products. This reduces dependence on using complete virgin plastics.

• High-Quality Pre-Owned Products: We refurbish electronic devices such as laptops and washing machines. These machines are refurbished to a very high quality and sold to consumers wanting to purchase quality assets but cannot afford to buy new ones. We have started a warranty program as well, which assures customers of the quality and after-sales service.

Apart from designing climate-friendly supply chains for businesses, what kind of interfaces do you provide for end users?

For end users, we provide several interfaces to facilitate their participation in the circular economy:

• Community Programs: We run educational programs and workshops in communities to raise awareness about sustainable practices and the importance of recycling. We also combine them with collection drives, which helps citizens dispose their waste which otherwise is not accepted due to their low value.

• Trash-n-Trace Platform: We are building an integrated dashboard for our B2B customers, to be able to track all their recycling and waste management activities. We want to be able to provide actionable data to our customers which will help them with their ESG and sustainability requirements. The platform is under development and will be available to our customers soon.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in procuring and processing waste/used materials?

Some of the biggest challenges we face include:

• Collection Efficiency: Ensuring consistent and efficient collection of waste materials from diverse sources can be challenging.

• Quality of Waste: The quality and contamination levels of collected waste can vary, impacting the efficiency of the recycling process.

• Market Fluctuations: The market prices for recycled materials can fluctuate, affecting the economic viability of recycling operations.

• Deep Penetration of Informal Sector: This is the industry’s biggest persistent challenge. The informal sector is deeply entrenched in the waste collection value chain, and such players can procure materials from sources at higher prices since they do not comply with financial, regulatory, and environmental compliances.

• Lack of Awareness among Citizens: Citizens are not aware of the importance of segregation and disposing of their waste to authorized agencies. This leads to contamination in the waste streams and renders it useless for recycling.

Any policy recommendations that will help you?

We recommend the following policies to support our work:

• Incentives for Recycling: Providing financial incentives for businesses and consumers to participate in recycling programs can increase participation rates.

• Stricter Regulations on Waste Disposal: Implementing stricter regulations on waste disposal and encouraging the use of recycled materials can drive demand for recycling.

• Investment in Infrastructure: Increasing investment in recycling infrastructure and technology can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of recycling operations.

• Public Awareness Campaigns: Government-led campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and sustainable practices can help drive behavioural change.

What is the current scale of your operations?

As of now, Elima is on track to collect and process 25000-30000 Metric Tons of waste this year. We are a bootstrapped company growing at close to 25-30% Year over Year. Our team has grown considerably, and we are at a team strength of 110 people. We are working with some of the top companies in the IT/ITES, Retail and E-commerce, BFSI, and electronics industry.

By collaborating with a diverse range of clients, we are able to scale our operations and significantly impact the promotion of sustainability and the circular economy in India.

Also read: Attero launches Selsmart: A D2C e-waste take-back platform.