Banyan Nation, a Hyderabad-based start-up focussing on plastic waste recycling, has raised $800,000 to fuel its expansion plans.

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), Shujog, and global investment firm KKR-assisted Banyan Nation, expects to scale up its business by improving the supply chain in waste recycling value chain and bringing together a network of brands in the FMCG, pharma and other sectors.

The start-up, which uses technology and sustainable business practices to bring together local ‘kabadiwalas’ on the supply chain, recently expanded its manufacturing facility located at Patancheru, about 35 km from here.

Mani Vajpayi, Co-Founder and CEO, Banyan Nation, said: “The informal nature of the recycling value chain makes it almost impossible for Indian brands to use recycled plastic for their product and packaging needs. Raj Madangopal (Co-Founder and CEO) and I decided to give up our jobs in the US to create a business that changes the way India recycles plastics. Our goal is to become a trustworthy and responsible recycling partner.”

Jaideep Khanna, Co-Founder of Artha Capital, who committed the $800,000 in capital, said, “The consequences of our collective inaction seem negligible now, but over time will be devastating to the environment. We must each do our bit to stem the tide. Banyan, by laying the foundation for a formal recycling system, is doing just that.”

Banyan’s sustainable plastics recycling business closes the value chain loop by giving brands a viable alternative to virgin plastic for their product and packaging needs. Banyan manages a recycling operation that sources waste materials from aggregators, sorts and grades the plastic waste, and manages a treatment and recycling process that produces higher-quality plastic pellets with a longer life span than pellets produced by the majority of recycling companies in the country.

comment COMMENT NOW