Guwahati: Two Guwahati youth Rupankar Bhattacharya and Aniket Dhar have won the first prize in a competition for zero waste cities challenge organised by WasteAid, a UK-based NGO set up by waste management professionals to share practical and low-cost waste management know-how.
Their start-up Inside Out has ventured into a first of its waste-based innovation of making printable paper out of water hyacinth. The competition aimed to find entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas that can help reduce or recycle waste and create green employment opportunities.
Rupankar and Aniket’s innovation started as an initiative to save Deepor Beel from the most troublesome weed in the world. Apart from the water pollution from the Boragaon landfill for over a decade, the Ramsar site is also losing its glory due to the ecological imbalance caused by water hyacinth.
The duo realized the problems the weed carries for Deepor Beel and made the best use of it by finding out a way to make paper out of the weed and reduce the need for wood pulp. “Our main target is Deepor Beel. There are many wetlands in Assam where our work can be carried out. But we have started from Deepor Beel because it is not in a good state,” said Aniket Dhar, Co-founder, Inside Out.
“From 2019-2020, we tried to figure out if we could make paper out of the discarded water hyacinth and finally, we were successful now. We could make proper printable papers. We submitted that project. There were over 100 participants from India. We made it to the top 12 and then got selected in the top 5 and then the final selection, our organization ‘Inside Out’ was selected as the winner,” said Rupankar Bhattacharya, co-founder of Inside Out.
Speaking to EastMojo about water hyacinth and the problems they pose for Deepor Beel, Jayaditya Purkayastha, Herpetologist at HelpEarth said, “The sun’s rays maintain the ecosystem and once the surface is covered by water hyacinth, it disrupts the sunrays. It disrupts oxygen production underwater and leads to the failure of the ecosystem in water. Apart from this, water absorption increases, transpiration increases and the water level in the wetland decreases.”
Inside Out has won €10,000 and six months of business mentoring to help make their ideas a reality. The innovation is expected to reduce waste and create green employment opportunities in the city. Through the seed funding from WasteAid, Inside Out eyes at providing employment to 23 locals that will include semi-skilled and unskilled labourers for waste collection and management.
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