Brussels Indian turns waste into wealth

Brussels-based Indian businessman  intends to be India’s first ‘waste billionaire’, reports Business Line. So confident is Paresh Parekh, founder of a waste management company, of his ambitious plans that he would “create one million jobs and clean up India”, he told the paper’s Virendra Pandit. “This is not a boast. But the huge potential I see makes me believe in it.” A chance meeting with technology wizard Sam Pitroda in Belgium drove the young Gujarati businessman to return to his roots and set up his unique waste management business in Vadodara in 2008. He earned a Masters in Infosystems and an MBA in Brussels in 2002, and became the first Indian to bring Bollywood to Belgium by importing films, renting theatres, delivering tickets and creating a niche market among the country’s Asian community. With the phenomenal reach and contacts he developed, he became a ‘one-point-connectivity’ in Belgium for Indians, in particular, and Asians, in general. His knowledge of Dutch helped him become a most-sought-after man in Belgium.

Parekh used to help a friend clear garbage from his grocery shop which gave him the idea of waste disposal. “Unlike in India, we had to pay for waste disposal from our shops or offices in Europe.” He studied the waste collection, disposal and recycling at municipal bodies there and how some of those in business used to export this waste. “I shipped my first consignment of waste in 1999. Some Indians realised the potential in this business. So I decided not to just trade the waste but to have my own recycling facility.” For this, he needed funds. He set up a company in the UK and returned to Brussels for two years. “Pitroda spotted me at a function in Brussels, discovered I was a fellow Gujarati and very soon I was showing him around the Belgian capital. When he found out what I did, he advised me to set up a waste business in India,” he says. This led to the foundation of the business brand, Pastiwala, in January 2010, owned by his company, Sort India Enviro Solutions Ltd. His company collects 2,500 tonnes of waste every month. Its recycled products are then resold to those who need them. Recycled paper, For instance,  is sold to paper manufacturers.