Aspirelabs Accelerator launched FINILOOP PLASTIC LAB to support Plastic Waste Management Startups

New Delhi : FINILOOP (Financial Inclusion & Improved Livelihoods out of Plastics) is a city-level solid waste management program, and Aspirelabs has just launched FINILOOP PLASTIC LAB (www.aspirelabs.com/fpl) as part of it. FINILOOP’s goal is to eliminate plastic waste from urban areas by enhancing solid and plastic waste management, expanding employment opportunities for informal waste workers, and promoting new approaches to the plastics industry. FINILOOP PLASTIC LAB (FPL) is a 14-month incubation programme designed to assist plastic waste entrepreneurs and startups from all over the country in their efforts to implement the circular economy concept and make Udaipur and Amritsar plastic waste-free cities.

Aspirelabs (www.aspirelabs.com), WASTE Foundation (www.waste.nl), and Trust of People are working together to implement FPL with funding from the IKEA Foundation (www.ikeafoundation.org). Strategic partners such as the FINISH Society, the Take a Stake fund, and the Shriram Institute of Industrial Research are also contributing to its success. Prominent government and business leaders spoke at the launch event on March 27, 2023, at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The founder of Aspirelabs, Mr. Ranjit Singh, Mr. Jeroen IJgosse of the WASTE Foundation, and the Director of the FINILOOP Program, Ms. Sophie Van den Berg, gave an overview of the programme’s goals and objectives, as well as the ways in which both startups and cities stand to benefit. The chief guest, Mr. CK Mishra, Former Union Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), in his address, emphasised the need for a paradigm shift vis-à-vis plastic and congratulated Aspirelabs for adding a fifth ‘R’ – ‘Reimagine’ to the existing four R’s of plastic – Refuse, Reuse, Recycle and Recover and he hoped that FINILOOP would be able to close the loop on plastics.

There were three distinct parts to the program, all with the overarching theme of “REIMAGINE PLASTIC.” Accelerating plastic circularity was the topic of the discussions, which touched on the following points: • Policy challenges & interventions • Perspective of startups regarding challenges related to circularity in plastics • Bridging the critical gaps to catalyse circularity in plastics • In the first session, notable researchers, policymakers, academics, CSR experts, and people from industry at large gave individual speeches explaining the justifications for the laws.

Some of them were Mr. Somveer Anand, CEO and Mission Director, Innovation Mission Punjab (Virtual), Mr. Prabhat Pani, Executive Director – CISD, SPJIMR; (Virtual), Prof Anup Kumar Ghosh, Emeritus Professor, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, IIT Delhi, Mr. Harkesh Mittal, Chairman, Startup India Seed Fund Committee, Govt. of India, Ms. Saloni Goel, Head Circular Economy and Plastic Waste Management, UNDP India, Ms. Gitika Goswami, Associate Vice President & Lead Policy Research & Planning, Development Alternatives, Dr. Mukul Das, Director, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Ms. Rishika Chatterjee, Associate – Startup India and Mr. Pavee Raheja, Chief Strategy Officer, Terraform ESG. • In the second session, we had our first-panel discussion to understand the perspective of startups already working in Plastic Waste Management space and the challenges faced by them.

Panelists were Ms. Sonal Shukla, Co-Founder econscious, Mr. Rakesh Thakur, COO of Dhruven Entreprises, Ms. Sakshi Jha, CoFounder, SarfarazSakshi Innovation, Mr. Pranjul Jha, Chief Operating Officer, Biocrux India, Mr. Mukul Chhabra, Founder, ScrapUncle, Ms. Divya Shetty, COO and Co-founder, Cercle X (Infinite Cercle) and Ms. Anita Ahuja, Co-Founder and President Conserve India. • The third and last session was devoted to the issue of overcoming the challenges faced in accelerating plastic circularity and bridging those gaps. Panelists were Mr. Abhijit Banerji, Member Secretary, FINISH Society & Director FINISH Mondial India, Mr. Mihir Banerji, Co-chairman, Plastindia Committee & Secretary General, PPRDC, Mr. D P Singh, Vice President, Re Sustainability, Dr. Madhab Chakraborty, Joint Director and Regional Head at Indian Institute of Packaging, Delhi, Mr. Arunavo Mukherjee, Vice President – Advisory Services, Tata Cleantech Capital, Mr. Kamlesh Kholiya, Sustainability Manager – South Asia Markets, Tetra Pak. About Aspirelabs Aspirelabs(www.aspirelabs.com) is a startup accelerator and incubator centrally located in Delhi NCR with a network of high-quality business, sectoral, and startup mentors.

Aspirelabs runs customized programs designed to foster entrepreneurship and innovation and to enable young businesses and startups to scale up for profitability. In the last 6 years, we have helped 600+ startups through the following – • Design and implementation of startup acceleration/incubation programs; • Mentoring and assisting startups in scaling up. • Techno-commercial studies, consulting, and advocacy on the environment, waste management, sustainability, and related issues • Direct and indirect funding Lamp lighting ceremony by (L to R); Prof AK Ghosh, Emeritus Professor, IIT Delhi; Mr. Jeroen IJgosse, Solid Waste Expert, WASTE Foundation; Mr. Ranjit Singh, Founder Aspirelabs; Ms. Nivedita Singh, Founder Co-create change; Mr. C K Mishra, Former Secretary, MoEFCC, Govt. of India; Ms. Saloni Goel, Head Circular Economy and Plastic Waste Management, UNDP India; Mr. Abhijit Banerji, Member Secretary, FINISH Society & Director FINISH Mondial India.