Jaipur-based WeVOIS Labs, founded by engineers Abhishek Gupta and Abhinav Shekhar Vashistha, is using technology and on-ground operations to improve how cities collect, track, segregate and process waste. The company, which formally launched in 2018 and began operating waste collection services in 2019, now works across more than 36 cities, reaches over 46 lakh citizens every day and supports the livelihoods of more than 2,000 sanitation workers and field staff. It says it has managed more than seven lakh tonnes of waste.
The founders’ journey began in 2014, when a college cleanliness campaign made them look more closely at India’s waste problem. Their subsequent experience travelling with sanitation workers in Sikar, Rajasthan, also changed their understanding of the issue, highlighting the lack of job security, safety equipment, recognition and financial stability faced by many workers.
WeVOIS now combines digital mapping, RFID-based collection tracking, route planning, citizen alerts, dashboards, material recovery facilities and recycling systems. Its founders say technology alone cannot solve waste management and that effective operations, infrastructure, citizen participation and accountability are equally important. The company has also expanded into textile recycling and has set a long-term goal of supporting 100 zero-waste cities.
A Waste Management Company
The story of WeVOIS began more than a decade ago, when Gupta and Vashistha were mechanical engineering students at IIIT Jabalpur. Gupta had grown up in Agra, while Vashistha was from Jaipur. The two met in 2012 and worked together on college festivals, student bodies and campus projects.
In September 2014, as the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission approached, they were selected to lead their college’s cleanliness initiative. What began as a student responsibility eventually involved more than 100 volunteers, along with brainstorming sessions, clean-up drives, awareness programmes and a half-marathon that attracted thousands. Although the campaign ended on 2 October, the experience left the two engineers with questions about the country’s wider waste management system.
They began observing overflowing bins, dumping grounds and large landfill sites, while studying how urban sanitation systems operated. “After that, we could not unsee waste,” Gupta says. They also identified a gap in how cities tracked waste collection and what happened to waste after it left neighbourhoods.
After graduating in 2016, Gupta joined IIT Delhi for research and Vashistha moved to IIT Bombay, but their interest in solving everyday problems remained. By 2018, they had begun developing an early technology platform for waste collection and tracking.
Central To Their Model
Their approach changed significantly after they got an opportunity to test their system in Sikar, Rajasthan. Before starting the pilot, Gupta and Vashistha spent an entire day travelling with sanitation workers in garbage collection vehicles to understand the work from the ground.
The workers began before sunrise and spent hours travelling between neighbourhoods, carrying out physically demanding work that often received little recognition. “They were working really hard, but people normally blamed them for things beyond their control,” Vashistha says. Their conversations also revealed wider difficulties, including irregular incomes, limited job security, restricted access to financial services, inadequate safety equipment and few opportunities for professional growth.
This convinced the founders that their solution could not simply be software. WeVOIS Labs was formally launched on 6 December 2018, initially with the intention of developing technology for municipalities. However, local authorities involved in the Sikar pilot saw improvements in collection and operational efficiency and asked the founders to take responsibility for the operation itself. On 1 April 2019, WeVOIS began operating waste collection services.
The company maps properties such as homes, apartments, hotels, hospitals, hostels and commercial establishments, assigning them RFID tags that act as unique identifiers. Drivers receive planned routes on their phones, residents can receive alerts before collection vehicles arrive, and workers scan RFID tags when waste is collected. The resulting data is displayed on a central dashboard, allowing supervisors and municipal authorities to monitor routes, attendance and vehicle movement. “Every collection becomes traceable,” Gupta says.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
India’s waste problem is often discussed through overflowing bins and landfills, but the sanitation workers handling this waste are equally important. WeVOIS combines technology with on-ground operations to track collection, improve segregation and recover materials through composting, recycling and textile processing.
The human impact is also significant. Mohammad Rafiq says his income increased from Rs 5,000-7,000 to Rs 11,000, while Nikhil Goyar and Babita Kumari highlight better training, stable work and greater respect.
For sustainable waste management, cleaner cities must go hand in hand with dignity and better livelihoods for sanitation workers. With a goal of supporting 100 zero-waste cities, can India build systems that improve both waste management and the lives of those who keep our cities clean?
Also Read: How Influencer Bittu Tabahi Mobilized Delhi Youth To Clean Up The Yamuna River
