Recykal crafts role in India’s recycling industry

This century, policymakers and companies doing business in India have enjoyed a growing economy accompanied by increasing volumes of discarded materials.

In response, Hyderabad, India-based Recykal has created what it calls tech-led platforms to boost the circular economy through its “managed marketplace” for secondary raw materials, including an extended producer responsibility (EPR) platform for compliance support and digital deposit-refund systems (dDRS) to “drive behavioral change.”

“We’re formalizing the circular economy across India, while leveraging digital solutions that enable transparency and traceability for waste streams,” the company says.

Recykal, which was incorporated in 2015, has raised $45 million in capital and has been busy deploying those funds to create online and mobile trading and materials tracking platforms that can be used by those handling numerous secondary commodities.

Since 2023, the firm says its platforms have been used in the collection or trading of some 12 billion plastic bottles, more than 100,000 metric tons of recyclable metal and about 90,000 metric tons of recovered paper and electronic scrap.

The company says behavioral change toward waste management through technology has been gaining momentum in India, which is why Recykal has created its platforms.

“We’re formalizing the circular economy across India, while leveraging digital solutions that enable transparency and traceability for waste streams,” says Abhay Deshpande, CEO and founder of Recykal.

Participants in and observers of India’s recycling sector long have studied ways to connect what is considered an informal collection or scavenging network with more formal means to boost their incomes and protect themselves from health and safety hazards.

“Recyclers with formal facilities struggle more with sourcing reliable material than processing it. The result: inefficiency, pricing disputes and massive economic loss," Deshpande says.

Tying into its mission of encouraging behavioral change, Recykal has initiated a digital deposit refund system where incentives drive participation. “Deposit-linked, instant digital refunds transform waste return from a voluntary, moral action into a rational and repeatable behavior,” according to Recykal.

The company uses technology that can work with or without connectivity and can offer the option of integrating with existing waste and recycling management systems.

Recykal says its mission is to be directly involved in the management of 10 percent of India’s discarded materials into proper recycling channels.

“Accountability is the new brand currency; with regulations rising and customers paying closer attention, our brand suite ensures compliance, traceability and circularity at every step,” Deshpande says.