Innovation

The Energy and Resources Institute reports that India generates over 62 million tons (MT) of waste annually, of which 31 MT are discarded in waste yards. A usual Indian household waste comprises approximately 60% organic and 40% non-organic waste. The former, with a water content of about 70%, gets transported to landfills, using up resources and contributing to the climate crisis by releasing harmful by-products such as sulphate and methane, which have 28 times more Greenhouse impact as compared to carbon dioxide.

Waste is part and parcel of everyone's life; everyone produces it and leaves it to be handled by governmental/waste management companies. “Daily Dump has changed the narrative around waste – it's something that needs to be owned and managed by you,” says its CEO Arjun Dev. Daily Dump’s goal is to empower every individual to participate in sustainable practices. It uses design innovation to develop individual and community composters and composting premixes for a hassle-free experience.

The company’s journey began in 2006 with terracotta composters designed by Poonam Bir Kasturi, founder of the company, and other design experts. “A fantastic thing about Daily Dump is that it is constantly innovating,” Mr. Dev states, indicating that they have developed composters made of 100% recycled plastic, “A small trade-off to achieve a larger goal.”

Terracotta composters continue to sell well in local communities, except that the plastic composters are now five times more popular, owing to their durability, which helps people to adopt composting in remote corners of the country.

Daily Dump recently launched its premium composter, Terrabyte. "Instead of focusing on making cheaper composters, we focus on making them simpler, elegant and easy to use for greater adoption," Arjun reveals.

Further, Daily Dump has driven sales and demand by promoting community education and awareness. Its website reflects the company’s intent to sell products and educate the masses about climate change, composting, and recycling. Daily Dump believes that decentralization of waste issues to the people, along with proper education and awareness, can positively impact future generations.

Inspiration

To address the compounding problem of waste management which she sees around her, Poonam Bir Kasturi, a design graduate and serial entrepreneur, started Daily Dump in 2006. Funding the start-up with her own money, after due research, her vision was to make composting a habit and make an impact through a large number of people.

Poonam emphasizes that “waste (like water, education, equity, and dignity) belongs to 'all of us' - we cannot abdicate responsibility only to politicians, lobbyists, or big corporations.” She believes composters should become as ubiquitous and in demand as swimming pools and clubhouses in residential and commercial complexes through design mandate. The company uses innovative designs to help imagine alternative scenarios to bring about behavioral change for composting.

“The mindset change is the hardest business to invest in. But for us, the inspiration lies in the accumulation of small victories over time,” Arjun stresses.

Overall impact

The impact of Daily Dump extends beyond borders as it has shared its innovative designs with 12 entrepreneurs and over 20 individuals worldwide. Its easy replicability has helped to introduce its innovations in Latin America, Chile and Britain. The company’s business model and impact helped it to secure funding in Shark Tank India, whilst to garnering widespread support and acclaim. “Our appearance on Shark Tank took our message to the masses; now people don’t ask what composting is; they know what it is.”

“Waste is a complex social problem which can’t be solved by only economics or technology. It requires a mindset change,” Dev says. Daily Dump has reached over 100,000 people through workshops, talks and other mediums and has over 80,000 customers who use its composters to keep around 62 tons of waste out of landfills daily. It has also played a pivotal role in the National Cleanliness Mission by the Government of India. The company’s efforts have been rewarded with many national and international awards.

Business benefit

“Since 2006, the company has been making profits,” Arjun discloses. The company has composters ranging from €6 to €210 and its composting premixes provide a recurring revenue of €2.5-5.5 per product sold. The latest figures reveal that Daily Dump reported sales of €396,000 in FY21-22 and €453,000 in FY20-21.

Daily Dump promotes replication of its model through Creative Commons licenses, thus lowering the entry barrier, thereby allowing more parties to tie up to address the issues and set up their own for-profit model, thus promoting entrepreneurship embedded in behavioral change as a strategic model. “Sharing knowledge is more important than competing right now because the industry is so nascent, and we have not touched even 1% of the problem.” This cloning helps the company to generate data from partners and find solutions.

Social and environmental benefit

Daily Dump has roped in traditional potter communities to manufacture 'Khamba' - it’s most famous and highly sustainable composter. It has trained 20 potter clusters all over India, one in the UK, and one in Chile to make composter designs, thus providing potter communities stable earnings and improved living standards. The Indian potter communities have garnered widespread media acclaim for exceptional craftsmanship; as a result, several communities have embarked on a transformational journey towards entrepreneurship.

Since 2012, Daily Dump, and its customers, have made an impressive environmental impact by reintegrating 431 tons of nutrient-rich compost into the soil and reduced 22,379 tons of carbon dioxide emissions since 2006 by diverting kitchen waste to composter instead of landfills.

In line with the founder’s vision, it is now partnering with reputed builders to incorporate change at the design and architectural level to address waste management, ushering a new era of eco-conscious initiatives.

Interview

Arjun Dev, CEO