Starbase Innovations · Calicut, since 2021
Starbase builds the software behind waste collection and recycling.
Our product, Swastha, helps waste-management companies and fleets plan trips, track vehicles and record collections in Kerala and in Pune, Maharashtra. Next, we are extending that record to households, scrap dealers, aggregators and recyclers.
- Web and Android, in seven Indian languages
- Reads seven Indian GPS providers
- Data stored in India
Where Swastha runs
Across Kerala, and in Pune.
- KeralaAll 14 districts
- MaharashtraPune
Swastha in operation
- trips a month
- 5,633
- trips a month
- vehicles on the platform
- 302
- vehicles on the platform
- active collection routes
- 4,000+
- active collection routes
- states: Kerala and Maharashtra
- 2
- states: Kerala and Maharashtra
Starbase data, as of Apr 2026
The problem
Waste changes hands four times. The record breaks at each hand-off.
Dry waste from a home or a panchayat collection point passes through several businesses before it is recycled. Most hand-offs are settled with paper slips, cash and phone calls, so it is hard to say how much was collected, what it was worth or where it ended up.
Generator
Homes, flats, offices and panchayat collection points sort and hand over dry waste. They rarely know who will collect it, when, or what it is worth.
Lost at this hand-off: Who collected it, what it weighed and the price paid
Scrap dealer (kabadiwala)
Haritha Karma Sena units and private dealers collect, weigh and pay. Prices and volumes live in notebooks.
Lost at this hand-off: Which pickups a load came from
Aggregator
Yards and material recovery facilities buy from dealers, sort by grade and bale. When a yard shuts, dealers find out when they arrive.
Lost at this hand-off: The source of each baled lot
Recycler
Plants buy baled material but can’t show where it came from — which brands now need for their EPR reports.
At most arrows today: paper slips, cash and phone calls.
Swastha at work
Reject waste from Kerala to cement kilns in Andhra Pradesh, every load on record
Reject waste is what is left after dry waste is sorted and can’t be recycled. One operator sends it from its material recovery facilities in north Kerala to cement kilns about 640 km away. Here is how those trips run on Swastha, with the figures from the trip records.
A Kerala waste-management company · 20 Aug – 15 Oct 2026
The load is posted as a transport job
The operator posts each load on Swastha with the pickup facility, the kiln and an agreed rate.
A fleet accepts it
Starbase’s own fleet accepted all 18 jobs and assigned a 12-wheel truck and driver to each.
The truck is tracked on GPS
Swastha reads the truck’s position from its GPS provider for the whole run, about three days from pickup to delivery.
Proof at both ends
The driver photographs the load at pickup and at the kiln. The drop point is verified and the delivered weight is recorded against the trip.
- From Material recovery facility, Malappuram district, Kerala
- From Material recovery facility, Kozhikode district, Kerala
- To Cement kiln A, Andhra Pradesh
- To Cement kiln B, Andhra Pradesh
- trips completed, each GPS-tracked with photos at pickup and delivery
- 18
- trips completed, each GPS-tracked with photos at pickup and delivery
- As of · Swastha trip records
- of reject waste delivered, by recorded delivery weight
- 416 t
- of reject waste delivered, by recorded delivery weight
- As of · Swastha trip records
- average load per trip
- 23 t
- average load per trip
- As of · Swastha trip records
- planned distance per trip
- ~640 km
- planned distance per trip
- As of · Swastha trip records
Figures cover the trips completed between 20 August and 15 October 2026. Distance is the planned route; weight is the delivered weight recorded at the kiln. We name customers only with their written permission.
The Swastha platform
What runs today, and what comes next
Each stage lists what waste operators use on Swastha today and what is on our roadmap.
Collection
Pickups from homes, flats and collection points, and the Haritha Karma Sena units and dealers who collect them.
- Shared collection and drop pointsLive
- Household and flat pickup requestsRoadmap
- Scrap dealer and Haritha Karma Sena appRoadmap
Transport
Trips planned, dispatched and tracked on GPS, with photo proof at every stop.
- Trip planning and dispatchLive
- Live GPS trackingLive
- Photo proof and digital trip passLive
- Outsourced fleet jobsLive
- Driver and supervisor appLive
Recycling
Loads sold to aggregators and recyclers, with the source of every lot on record.
- Aggregator and recycler pricesRoadmap
- Source-to-recycler traceabilityRoadmap
Compliance and reporting
Operational reports for operators today; ward-level and EPR reporting planned.
- Operational reportsLive
- Settlement and invoicingRoadmap
- EPR traceability for brandsRoadmap
- Ward-level reports for local bodiesRoadmap
Backed by incubators and research institutions
- SIIC, IIT KanpurInvestment
- AIC-IIITKInvestment
- CUSAT TBIGrant
- IPTIF, IIT PalakkadR&D partner
- NVIDIA InceptionProgramme member
Latest insights
SWM rules and policy —
Where India’s solid waste goes: the 2021-22 numbers
India generates 1,70,339 tonnes of solid waste a day. Just over half is processed. More than a fifth is not accounted for at all.
Investors
Talk to the founders
Operating numbers, a deployment in detail, our backers and the deck, in one place.