Hyderabadis now have the opportunity to exchange their trash for one millilitre of petrol. This initiative, called Refuel with Recykal, is a collaboration between the city-based startup Recykal and the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. The goal of the initiative is to reduce the burden on the environment by bringing trash back into the circular economy instead of sending it to landfills.
Recykal’s senior officer explained that many things that are no longer in use are often thrown away, causing harm to the environment. To address this issue, people can now bring their plastic waste, paper, cardboard, mobiles, laptops, network equipment, cables, and other materials to designated Indian Oil fuel stations and receive credits in return. These credits can be used to pay for fuel at specific fuel stations, with each credit equivalent to one millilitre of fuel. People who contribute more than 10 kg of waste are eligible for additional fuel.
As a pilot project, Recykal has partnered with five fuel stations in the west-north part of Hyderabad. These stations include Hitech City, TSIIC Knowledge City, COCO Jubilee Hills, Cyber Filling Station near Miyapur, and COCO Begumpet Prakashnagar. Since the initiative started on June 5, approximately 80-120 kg of trash is being collected daily across these five petrol bunks. The collected trash is then transported to a recycling center where it can be reused for manufacturing new things.
The founder-CEO of Recykal, Abhay Deshpande, explained that this initiative aims to do more than just reduce waste pollution. It also aims to create social entrepreneurship and green jobs for women and specially abled individuals. The project has the potential to collect 2.6 million tonnes of uncontaminated dry waste annually directly from its source, creating a minimum of 16,000 direct and 64,000 indirect green jobs.
