Big Idea

Trash money

Need to empty your home of scrap? With Kuppathotti, you can sell it to a raddiwalla online

In a world where you expect to find everything online, Joseph Jegan was surprised when he didn’t find any hits for an online raddiwalla. That’s how the idea of kuppathotti, Tamil for dustbin was born.

Jegan currently sorts the scrap collected and sells it to middle men who in turn sell it to recycling mills. “The margins we earn out of selling newspapers are about ₹2 per kg, if we sell it directly to recyclers, our margins can double,” explains Jegan. But for that to happen, he needs volumes. That means a quantum jump from the currently aggregated 10 tonne of newspapers to 100 tonne.  

In the six months since the company began, it now has 7,500 registered users, and has clocked ₹9 lakh in revenue. Jegan invested ₹15 lakh to start the company out of his savings, and expects to breakeven only after a year, when he has expanded his customer base.