Corporate sustainability is a growing priority in the business world. This is especially true for startups aiming to innovate in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. This goal advocates for efficient use of resources, reduction of waste, and the promotion of sustainable production methods. It does so to ensure that global consumption patterns become less harmful to the environment(The Global Goals).
Explore 12 startups that are working towards responsible production and consumption. Learn how you can incorporate their ideas into your startup's functioning
These 12 startups are innovating corporate sustainability through creative solutions in line with UNSDG 12, from food and plastic waste reduction to toxic material management and water generation out of air.
Each one of these innovative solutions points out that startups can create impactful, profitable, and scalable solutions for some of the world's pressing environmental challenges.
Coupled with technology, innovation, and strategic partnership startups will be able to play the most critical role in encouraging responsible consumption and production for all toward a more sustainable future. This is attributed to their agility and innovativeness, which make them best positioned to take center stage.
Following are 12 organizations and startups making an effort to dent corporate sustainability-listed with them are lessons to be learned and strategies to follow for other businesses.
1. Oorja Development Solutions
Founder: Amit Saraogi
Founded in: 2016
Location: New Delhi, India
Oorja Development Solutions focuses on providing solar-powered solutions for agriculture. Thus helping rural farmers in India switch from diesel to solar irrigation. The company’s focus on energy efficiency directly contributes to SDG 12.2, which promotes efficient resource use.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Adopt Decentralized Energy: Startups, especially in energy-intensive sectors like agriculture, should explore decentralized, renewable energy options. They should do so to reduce their carbon footprint.
Target Underserved Communities: Oorja’s impact goes beyond energy. It empowers rural communities and boosts productivity. Thus showing how startups can integrate social and environmental missions.
Build a Sustainable Supply Chain: By using renewable energy in their processes, startups can ensure sustainability throughout their supply chain. Thus reducing long-term operational costs and improving resource efficiency.
Focus on Energy Audits: Oorja conducts regular energy audits, allowing for continuous improvement in energy use and contributing to environmental sustainability.
2. RePurpose Global
Founder: Svanika Balasubramanian
Founded in: 2019
Location: Mumbai, India
RePurpose Global helps businesses worldwide offset their plastic footprint by financing recycling projects in developing countries. The organization directly tackles SDG 12.5, which focuses on waste reduction through recycling and reuse.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Measure and Offset Waste: Startups can start by calculating their plastic or carbon footprint. After which they can focus on investing in offset projects. This could include partnering with recycling organizations or supporting plastic-neutral certifications.
Incorporate the Circular Economy: Embracing circular economy principles—where products are designed for reuse or recycling—can help reduce waste. RePurpose Global’s model shows how businesses can integrate waste reduction into their core offerings.
Enhance Stakeholder Awareness: RePurpose not only works with companies but educates consumers about their individual impact, demonstrating the importance of public engagement in sustainability initiatives.
Global Partnerships for Impact: By working with global organizations, RePurpose Global ensures a broader reach for its projects, emphasizing the importance of international collaboration for startups.
3. AgroWave
Founder: Aatish Chandra
Founded in: 2017
Location: Gurugram, India
AgroWave is an agri-tech startup that focuses on reducing post-harvest food loss by connecting farmers directly with retailers through a mobile app. This initiative aligns with SDG 12.3, which seeks to halve global food waste by 2030.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Optimize Supply Chains: AgroWave’s platform reduces the time food spends in transit and storage, minimizing waste. Startups can similarly optimize their supply chains by adopting technology-driven solutions. This will aid in reducing inefficiencies.
Promote Local Sourcing: By connecting local farmers with nearby retailers, AgroWave supports a more localized supply chain. Thus reducing the carbon footprint associated with long-distance transportation.
Develop Tech-Based Solutions: Utilizing mobile technology or other digital tools can streamline processes. They will thus contribute to reducing waste. AgroWave’s tech-based approach allows for real-time tracking and more efficient logistics.
Collaborate with Farmers and Communities: AgroWave’s success lies in its collaboration with farmers. By doing so, they show the value of strong partnerships between startups and local communities.
4. Ecozen Solutions
Founder: Devendra Gupta, Vivek Pandey, and Prateek Singhal
Founded in: 2010
Location: Pune, India
Ecozen Solutions is a startup focused on developing solar-powered cold storage units for farmers. This helps reduce food spoilage, especially in remote areas with unreliable access to electricity. Ecozen addresses SDG 12.3, focusing on reducing food losses along supply chains.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Invest in Renewable Energy Solutions: Startups in sectors like agriculture and logistics can invest in renewable energy solutions. They can reduce dependency on fossil fuels and lower operational costs by doing so.
Solve Infrastructure Challenges: Ecozen’s cold storage units provide a solution to one of the biggest challenges in agriculture. This challenge is the post-harvest loss due to poor infrastructure. Startups can thrive by identifying and addressing key industry pain points.
Design Products for Remote Areas: Creating products that work in areas with limited infrastructure (like rural regions) can provide enormous value. They can also contribute to sustainable development.
Focus on Product Durability: Ecozen emphasizes building durable, energy-efficient products. Thus ensuring long-term benefits for users while contributing to sustainability.
5. Carbon Clean Solutions
Founder: Aniruddha Sharma and Prateek Bumb
Founded in: 2009
Location: Mumbai, India
Carbon Clean Solutions provides innovative technology to capture carbon emissions from industrial processes. Thus helping companies achieve lower carbon footprints. Their work supports SDG 12.4, which deals with the responsible management of chemicals and reducing harmful emissions
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Implement Clean Technologies: Startups should consider clean technologies to help industries transition to greener operations. This could include carbon capture or reducing waste emissions through technology.
Target Industrial Sustainability: Carbon Clean focuses on making industries more sustainable. Startups should explore B2B models that offer sustainability solutions to traditionally high-pollution sectors.
Collaborate with Governments: Governments often set strict environmental regulations. Startups like Carbon Clean can partner with them to provide solutions that meet these requirements. Thus, benefiting both the company and the public sector.
Offer Customizable Solutions: Providing adaptable, scalable sustainability solutions allows startups to work with companies of different sizes. Thus making sustainability accessible to a broader range of industries.
6. Chakr Innovation
Founder: Kushagra Srivastava
Founded in: 2016
Location: New Delhi, India
Chakr Innovation tackles air pollution by developing solutions that capture diesel soot from generators and repurpose it into usable ink. They call it Chakr Shield. This addresses both SDG 12.4 (managing waste) and SDG 12.5 (reducing waste generation through innovative reuse).
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Turn Waste into Resources: Startups can innovate by transforming waste into valuable products, such as turning pollution into ink, as Chakr does. This aligns with circular economy principles.
Innovate for Sustainability: Chakr’s technology highlights the role of innovation in driving sustainability. New startups can push the boundaries of existing technologies to solve environmental issues.
Monetize Sustainability: By converting waste into marketable products, startups like Chakr show that sustainability efforts can also create new revenue streams.
Foster Cross-Industry Collaboration: Chakr’s products are used by industries ranging from textiles to packaging. This shows the power of cross-industry collaboration to expand the impact of a startup’s innovations.
Phool.co is an eco-friendly startup that transforms floral waste from temples into incense sticks and organic compost. Its unique model contributes toward SDG 12.5: By 2030, it is considerably reduced through prevention, reduction, recovery, and recycling.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Convert Organic Waste: Startups can identify innovative ways to convert organic waste into useful products, reducing waste while creating eco-friendly products.
Focus on Social Impact:Phool.co employs local women and supports marginalised communities, showing that sustainability and social impact can go hand-in-hand.
Develop Biodegradable Products: Consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious, and as it were, biodegradable products are on demand. The success of Phool.co in eco-friendly incense sticks is one such example of this trend.
Address Niche Markets: Phool.co did this by operating within the floral waste management niche. This helps the startups in finding out the specific streams of wastes that could be used to create value with sustainability.
8. Uravu Labs
Founders: Swapnil Shrivastav and Vidya Kanigicherla
Founded in: 2019
Location: Bengaluru, India
Uravu Labs represent an innovative water-tech startup extracting potable water from air using renewable sources of energy. The system gathers atmospheric moisture and turns it into clean, drinkable water; therefore, it offers a sustainable solution to the problem of water shortage. This solution addresses SDG 12.2, which centers on the efficient use of natural resources.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Resource Efficiency: The technology built in Uravu Labs epitomizes the efficient usage of natural resources. The startups may develop technologies that would put less strain on critical resources like water, food, and energy.
Integration of Renewable Energy: This is a superb example for a startup in using renewable sources of energy to power their water-from-air technology. It cuts down on reliance on fossil fuels, not to mention making this product accessible to areas well off the grid.
Address Critical Needs: Startups can solve basic humanitarian needs, like the scarcity of water. How does Uravu do it? Its solution addresses a huge global problem, and with a model that is scalable and sustainable.
Localized Production: The technology in water generation can be deployed both in villages and towns, adaptable to different ecological and geographical environments. In fact, that's another important learning for startups-to create location-agnostic solutions.
9. Banyan Nation
Founder: Mani Vajipey
Founded in: 2013
Location: Hyderabad, India
Banyan Nation is an innovative startup that focuses on the recycling of plastics in India. It collaborates with industries to help them integrate recycled plastics into their production process, thereby reducing the amount of general plastic waste generated. They directly contribute to SDG 12.5 through its goal of accomplishing waste reduction by means of recycling and reuse.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Leverage Technology for Recycling: Banyan Nation uses data analytics and technology to track plastic waste to ensure proper recycling. This digital means can be incorporated by your startup to boost sustainability efforts in terms of efficiency and traceability.
Promote Circular Economy: In the place of disposable scenarios, the business model of Banyan Nation replaces the reusable aspect of wastes. Start-ups must be developed on product designs or processes which grantee little to no wastage and maximum utilization of the materials, ie, promote circular economy.
Engage Large Enterprises: Large-scale manufacturers and multinational corporations have been able to provide Banyan Nation with opportunities to further expand its reach. Startups can amplify their influence by collaborating with established businesses to enhance their sustainability goals.
Educational Outreach: Besides the recycling operations, Banyan Nation conducts awareness on the responsible usage and recycling of plastic. Similarly, other startups can also take part in education-oriented initiatives to make communities aware for better consumption patterns.
10. Graviky Labs
Founder: Anirudh Sharma
Founded in: 2016
Location: Bengaluru, India
Graviky Labs transforms air pollution into a value-added resource by converting carbon emissions into ink, also referred to as Air-Ink. Therefore, their innovation directly contributes toward SDG 12.4, responsible management of chemicals and wastes, due to the processing of pollution into a reusable product.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Innovative Waste Transformation: Graviky Labs represents an example of how any startups may take something considered an environmental pollutant and turn it into a marketable product. By turning carbon emissions into ink, they're providing one potential definition for waste as resource.
Support from Research and Development (R&D): R&D is the backbone of innovation at Graviky Labs in the field of sustainability. startups should focus on investing in research in order to find new ways to address environmental problems through science and technology.
Target Urban Sustainability: Graviky Labs contributes to cleaner cities by reducing air pollution in urban areas. A startup solution for sustainability should target the challenges related to pollution or waste in a city or a similar setup.
Collaborate with Artists and Corporations: Graviky Labs partners with brands and artists that use Air-Ink in various products and creative projects. This scaling up helps them in making their solution part of daily life and shows how creative partnerships can broaden the impact of a startup.
11. Attero Recycling
Founder: Nitin Gupta
Founded in: 2008
Location: Noida, India
Attero Recycling is one of the largest e-waste recyclers in India that decommission e-waste to recover valuable metals from such discarded electronics and put them into productive use. This contributes to SDG 12.4, speaking to environmentally sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Focus on Hazardous Waste: It looks at hazardous wastes such as lead and mercury in e-waste, which may cause serious environmental damage when released to the environment. Such startups must look for innovative ways of handling hazardous waste and extracting value from this dangerous waste by developing safe processes to handle it.
Monetize Sustainability: The secret of Attero Recycling's success lies in that it created a profit-making model from e-waste management by extracting valuable metals such as gold and copper. Startups need to look at monetizing sustainability to come up with valuable by-products from the streams of waste.
Comprehensive Recycling Infrastructure: At Attero, there is integrated recycling, collection, processing, and safe recycling of e-waste. It is here that investment by startups in end-to-end sustainability solutions can create a more holistic solution for environmental problems.
Regulatory Compliance: The company has close cooperation with governments to follow strict environmental standards. Being proactive about regulators and taking care of environmental laws helps a startup win people's confidence and improve its operational longevity.
12. PadCare Labs
Founder: Ajinkya Dhariya
Founded in: 2018
Location: Pune, India
PadCare Labs provides a sustainable solution for menstrual hygiene waste management by offering specialized disposal systems that recycle sanitary napkins into reusable products. This initiative supports SDG 12.5, focusing on waste reduction and recycling.
Key Lessons and Initiatives:
Tackle Niche Waste Streams: PadCare Labs addresses a niche yet significant environmental issue—menstrual hygiene waste. Startups should look for unexplored waste streams that have a high environmental impact but are often overlooked.
Promote Health and Sustainability: In addition to sustainability, PadCare’s solution addresses public health concerns, demonstrating that startups can create products that cater to both environmental and social needs.
Build Scalable Solutions: PadCare’s innovation is scalable and can be implemented in a wide range of public and private spaces. Startups should focus on scalability when developing solutions to ensure broader impact and adoption.
Create Awareness Campaigns: PadCare works to educate the public about responsible menstrual waste disposal. Startups should similarly invest in awareness campaigns to encourage consumers and businesses to adopt more sustainable practices.
Conclusion
These 12 startups are innovating corporate sustainability in line with UNSDG 12 through creative solutions-from reducing food and plastic waste to managing hazardous materials.
From generating water from the air through to bringing end-to-end transparency to metal supply chains-a rather material illustration of how startups can frame profitable, scalable, and impactful solutions to some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges.
Technology adoption, innovation, and strategic partnerships will, therefore, make it possible for startups to play a very vital role in the promotion of responsible consumption and production entailing a more sustainable future for one and all.
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