Without™ (by Ashaya)

First post of the new year 2025. Wish you all a very Happy New 2025. So here we are raising a #toast to yet another ever #hotter year. The thought itself sets us thinking. Today I want to share some reflections and how we can recharge ourselves for creating a world that we want to see. As #Sustainability professionals we are often bogged down by the ever closing circle of our polluted environments and increased unravelling of our shoe laces. So 2024 ended for us as a team to soak in nature and bond with each other as a team. We literally retreated into an unknown place to recharge ourselves and plan for 2025. Few year end reflections: #you - as #Sustainability professionals often our role feels unsupported, undermined and under funded. Understanding who you are and how you can connect with your inner strength can help us better manage our fears and forge ahead #now - overwhelming word in today’s time and date which leaves us all stressed due to deliverables that are expected immediately. Seizing each day and focus on the moment can help in overcoming our negative associations with #now #breathe - #breathwork is the foundation of emotion regulation. Anger, irritation and all forms of emotional distress can be handled through various pranayama. We ended the last team meeting of the year with meditation by Partho Nath where we learnt how we #breathe can help us bring our attention to #now and rejuvenate #you. Year 2025 wishlist: 1. Air pollution prevention and control in construction sector 2. Deeper native species integration into landscape areas and gardens 3. Light pollution awareness 4. Enhance construction waste management 5. Explore new technologies for wall and roof assembly 6. Deeper conversations and connections with friends and colleagues on climate change and planetary boundaries 7. Focus on regeneration 8. Deeper municipal waste management solutions at systems level 9. Single use plastic ban solutions 10. Influence non sustainability professionals to join hands Chitrangada Bisht Himanshu Manjrekar Ar. Pooja Jha Mahesh Kanak Rashmi Yelpure P.S: Dress - Slow clothing by Ekkatha Madhumita Nath Sunglasses by Without™ (by Ashaya)

#IndiaInnovates How can we tackle the toughest kind of plastic waste? This startup is addressing the challenge of post-consumer metalized multi-layered packaging (MLP) waste, which is notoriously difficult to recycle. Plastic waste is a major environmental issue. With 60% of plastic recycled in India, MLPs are often left behind. Without™ (by Ashaya) is changing that. By finding innovative ways to recycle MLPs and support waste pickers. Here’s how they’re making an impact: ♻️ Recycling MLP Waste: Tackling the toughest plastic waste with innovative solutions. 🌍 Without™ (by Ashaya) focuses on #SDG8 and #SDG12. Without™ (by Ashaya) is dedicated to: Reducing plastic waste. Creating formal employment for waste pickers. Neutralizing carbon footprints through farmer-led afforestation initiatives. Achievements: 🏆 Raised follow-round funding. 🏆 Secured INR 75 Lakhs on Shark Tank India Season 3. About the Founder: Anish Malpani has 10 years of experience in corporate finance, data science, operations, and social impact across three continents. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies and various impact organizations and currently serves on the boards of four non-profits globally. This innovation is featured in the SDG Entrepreneurs of India Coffee Table book. You can read about it here - https://lnkd.in/dkySzp2F #Sustainability #Innovation #PlasticRecycling #WasteManagement #CircularEconomy #SDGs #FutureFounders #ImpactInvesting #EnvironmentalImpact #SocialEquity #CarbonNeutrality

🕶️ Anish Malpani left a lucrative job in the U.S. to begin a startup in India. Without™ (by Ashaya) is addressing environmental concerns—producing eyewear from chip packets picked from garbage. How? Aishwarya Anand finds out! 🤳

We are looking to hire a Head of Science at Without™ (by Ashaya). This is not a chill 9-to-5 job. We are solving messy problems, trying to change the status quo in many ways, and that doesn’t come easy. So if you want something easy and comfortable, please don’t apply. We are trying to build something at the confluence of deep impact and deep technology; that at the heart of it, wants to evolve capitalism. The next two years are the most important in the life of our work. We need to improve and prove our tech at scale. To help us get there, we are looking for an experienced someone at the intersection of many sciences, who loves to solve complex problems and cares about what we do. Someone who’s never short of ideas, someone who never stops reading and learning, someone who understands the irony of Maslow’s hammer and someone who can actually do, not just think. So if you care about solving some of the world’s deepest problems, and if you enjoy complexity, come work with us.

🌟 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 "𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁" 🌟 Anish Malpani, left a lucrative job in US to return to India with a mission to make a positive societal impact. Anish brings over 11 years of experience in finance, strategy, operations, impact, and data across three continents. Despite his successful career, he felt a strong urge to address real social and environmental issues. 🌟 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽: In 2021, Anish founded "Without™ (by Ashaya)", an impact-driven startup aimed at tackling the global challenge of non-recyclable multi-layered plastic (MLP) waste. He recognized the urgent need for a sustainable solution to the 38 lakh tonnes of MLP waste generated annually in India. 🌟 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 "𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁" 𝗗𝗼: "Without" specializes in transforming "impossible-to-recycle" plastic waste, such as chip packets, into stylish and functional products like sunglasses, pots, and keychains. (https://shop.without.live/) Their innovative approach not only reduces landfill and ocean pollution but also creates employment opportunities for waste-pickers. 🌟 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿: → Since its inception, "Without" has achieved remarkable milestones. They sold over 1,000 sunglasses in their first month of launch → Received a ₹60 lakh grant from Unilever for R&D in 2023. → Earlier this year, they received an investment of ₹75 lakhs for 3% equity at a valuation of ₹25 crores from Shark Tank India Season 3 investors Ronnie Screwvala and Peyush Bansal. → They also launched a new material, Eco Terephthalic Acid (EcoTPA), which is derived from chip packets (MLP) and upgraded their first material, now called Verdiflx, which is more versatile and valuable. "𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 - 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘣, 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 - 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴. 𝘔𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥." - Anish Malpani 🌟 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: "Without" aims to expand its operations with the establishment of an MLP recycling plant and increase its daily recycling capacity from 5 kgs to 50-100 kgs per day. Their vision is to continue creating high-quality, recyclable products while making a substantial impact on the environment. 🙌 Special thanks to the entire "Without" team for their hard work and dedication. Anish Malpani | Rutuja Bhagwat (Jain) | Shailendra Singh | Rajesh Patil | Preeta Sukhtankar | Ajvad K | Rohan Bhatia | Midhun Mohan | Geetika Chatterjee | Mohamed Rizwan | SHREYAS SACHINKUMAR KULTHE | Dibyangana Parbat -------- Follow us at Unbox Startups for more such content and stories. 🔥🔥Wanted to get featured, DM us.🔥🔥 #StartupStories #Sustainability #Innovation #Without #Recycling #ImpactDriven #unboxstartups #startups #story

"Turning waste into wonder! 🌍✨ Presenting WITHOUT™—world’s first sunglasses made from recycled chips packets. Stylish for you, sustainable for the planet. 😎💚 #WearWithout #SustainabilityInStyle"

We at Without™ (by Ashaya) are excited to announce our collaboration with Volvo Group through their startup innovation hub CampX in a proof-of-value project, to contribute to developing future transport solutions. Together, we will work on reducing their carbon footprint through material science. The proof-of-value project will run until Q1 2024.   We also got a chance to present and meet the Volvo Group team in Bangalore at Volvo's ECO-SHIFT event.   We are truly grateful for the support and patience of the team at Volvo Group India in supporting startups like ours. It's a tough journey, and support like this is rare to find!   #campxbyvolvogroup

We at Without™ (by Ashaya) are excited to announce our collaboration with Volvo Group through their startup innovation hub CampX in a proof-of-value project, to contribute to developing future transport solutions. Together, we will work on reducing their carbon footprint through material science. The proof-of-value project will run until Q1 2024.   We also got a chance to present and meet the Volvo Group team in Bangalore at Volvo's ECO-SHIFT event.   We are truly grateful for the support and patience of the team at Volvo Group India in supporting startups like ours. It's a tough journey, and support like this is rare to find!   #campxbyvolvogroup

While 9%-18% of all plastics are probably recycled, flexible packaging like multi-layered plastic has a recycling rate of less than 1%. It's inconsistent and complex, often considered "impossible" to recycle. To help us tackle this, we at Without™ (by Ashaya) have won a US$225k grant from USAID, Unilever and EY through The CIRCLE Alliance! This grant will help us scale and upgrade our current MLP recycling technology while being socially inclusive. Not only that but through this partnership, we'll also be developing probably the world's first recycled shampoo bottle made from multi-layered plastic waste (including shampoo sachets). A special shoutout to Resonance for their support through this grant process! We are proud of this milestone, but we still have a long, long way to go.