There was a time when every neighbourhood had its kabadiwala — a familiar figure who’d cycle past your gate, calling out for newspapers, bottles, and scrap. You’d hand over a pile of old magazines, and in return, get a few coins and a little extra space in your cupboard. The exchange was simple, the relationship built on routine.

Fast forward to today, and the kabadiwala has gone digital.

In Pune, a quiet revolution is brewing around this everyday act of waste disposal. What used to be a sporadic, informal trade is being streamlined into a tech-enabled, app-driven process — one that’s not only more efficient but also significantly more sustainable. At the heart of this shift is a local initiative that started with a question and a handful of savings.

The seed of an idea

Jayesh Pakhale wasn’t a recycling expert or a startup veteran when the idea for his waste management platform first struck. He was a college student with a software background and a persistent frustration: Why was so much recyclable material still ending up in landfills when people were willing to part with it?

During his final year of graduation, Jayesh began experimenting with small-scale scrap collection using his own pocket money. What started as a side project slowly grew wings. “I’d collect scrap materials from friends and neighbours, weigh them properly, and make sure they went to the right place. It didn’t feel like a business then but more like solving a very obvious problem,” he recalls.

The more he explored, the more apparent the gaps became. The scrap collection industry, largely informal and unorganised, lacked transparency, convenience, and scale. Jayesh imagined a system where waste disposal could be as easy as ordering a cab or groceries, one where users wouldn’t need to call a middleman, bargain for rates, or wonder what happened to their waste afterward.

So in 2019, with no external investment and only personal savings, he launched what would become Scrapdeal – an online platform for doorstep waste collection that combines traditional recycling with a digital twist.

With a click, users can now schedule pickups for everything from old laptops and e-waste to cardboard boxes and worn-out clothes. What once required bargaining and waiting now takes minutes.

Building something from scratch – literally

Unlike many startups flush with venture capital, Scrapdeal was built brick by brick. Jayesh brought his brothers, Ganesh Pakhale (Co-founder & COO) and Vaibhav Pakhale (Co-founder & CFO), on board. By early 2019, they had launched........

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