Poonam Bir KasturiFounder, Daily Dump Poonam is an Industrial designer, facilitator, entrepreneur and mentor.  She graduated from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad India in 1986, specialising in Product Design.  Product Design She began her career designing and prototyping a variety of products that include a Centralized Lubrication System, an Industrial Water Purifier, and a Public Telephone Booth. In this period of her career, she also managed Sur Engineering – a family firm manufacturing machine tools.  Workshops, teaching, education Poonam has conducted several workshops on Art and Creativity and Innovation for a variety of audiences – from school children to corporate executives. Organisations that engaged Poonam in this area include Mallya Aditi International School (Bangalore), Newspapers in Education, Verifone, Wipro, Sun Microsystems and ITC.  Poonam is passionate about young people. Poonam is one of the founding faculty at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology Bangalore. Apart from designing and delivering cutting-edge programmes for Srishti’s design students (Foundation programme, Design Lab, Design for Community and Self, (Unlearning), Poonam has also facilitated and managed student interactions with craftspeople, NGOs, industry/ corporates, academics from national and international design schools, government and other stakeholders. She currently holds the position of Visionary-in-residence at Srishti. She also consults with other educational institutions like Riverside School in Ahmedabad and is currently putting together a Business Design programme with a team at Prin L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai.  Entrepreneurship As an entrepreneur she founded IndusTree Crafts in the early 90’s, and another company – Playnspeak – in 2000. IndusTree Crafts works with craftspeople to design, manufacture and retail/ export Indian crafts for contemporary customers. Playnspeak offers craft-based products for the home and office, products that poke fun at the values and ways of human beings, and also products that provoke reflection.  Design and Development Since 2000, Poonam has spent a lot of time (amongst other things) writing papers on Design and how it impacts Development. Her continuing interest in the field has enabled her to speak at, design and conduct workshops and seminars for people from varied backgrounds – students,

designers, NGOs and the government. She is also on the board of a trust called DESI which works in the area of livliehood generation in rural Karnataka.  Daily Dump Her latest project – Daily Dump – involves the design, manufacture, distribution and servicing products related to home composting. This is a product – service system which is based on an open-source platform and is meant to encourage micro-enterprise formation and collaborative product development. It uses craft skills to address a primarily urban issue. Daily Dump’s purpose is to reduce the waste generated by households, and thus reduce the pressure on the already-far-from-perfect public waste management systems. Daily Dump has been selected as one of the “Top Nominees” for the INDEX Design award 2007.  Poonam lives in Bangalore, with her husband Anand, and works out of her studio (popularly know as ‘the shed’) sharing the space with students, terracotta composters and the spirit of the raintree that is the canopy of this space.   

Poonam Bir Kasturi, a Bangalore-based NID graduate, introduces composting in terracotta

vessels – a simple and sustainable way of managing waste from the very comfort of your

home.

Genesis of the innovation

It might seem surreal to get people to do away with the good old trashcans and buy a pot

worth Rs. 600 for disposing garbage. However, that is exactly what Poonam Bir Kasturi, the

woman behind the Bangalore-based startup Daily Dump has been up to for the past one and a

half years.

Poonam’s terracotta vessels are designed to convert household waste into useful high-quality,

nutrient rich manure. Ask her what made her come up with such a concept, and she says, “An

average urban citizen generates over half a kilogram of solid waste everyday, which is

disposed off without being segregated. People want to make a significant contribution

towards reducing landfill waste, and they look for a simple way to do so. Replacing dustbins

with these pots is an easy solution for customers to do their share of environmental friendly

work.”

An alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Poonam’s knowledge of design also

contributed in the shaping of the vessel. “Design as a process thinking tool is extremely

powerful. I would constantly ask myself, ‘How can design impact everyday life?’, ‘Can it be

an enabler for a dignified individual action?’ ‘Is there an alternative to this obsessive

consumerism?’ It is after having many such discussions with friends and my students at the

Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, that the idea evolved,” she says. After testing

many different materials, Poonam concluded that terracotta is the best for decomposition.

“Plastic failed miserably,” says Poonam.

Implementation of the idea

Poonam made an initial investment of Rs 400,000 to set up the business. This included the

cost of researching, getting the material, prototyping, publishing hand manuals that

accompany the product, etc. The project has been completely funded by Poonam herself. As

she puts it, “I do not want to sign for a grant or a loan, because I want to prove in some way

that it is not always about the money or a business model, it is about intentions.”

How did she implement the program and get the word across? She claims that a clear vision,

correct platform and proper packaging are all it takes to build an intrinsic value and to

disseminate information. In Poonam’s case, her Website (dailydump.org), which cost her

around Rs 200,000, played a great role in implementing the project. “I don’t advertise for my

products so most of the publicity happens through the Website. You can put up a lot of

knowledge; you can direct people, and use it as a central force,” she claims.

Thanks to their beautiful designs, these vessels

can be placed anywhere from the garden, kitchen

or even the entrance of the house. Also, there is a

wide range of products, including the gamla, patta

kambha, leave-it-pot, kambha and mota lota, from

which the customers can choose. Miniature sets

for kids, aprons, rakes, spoons and spatulas are

available as well.

For customers who don’t have the time or are

unsure about how to begin with the composting

process at home, Daily Dump offers service plans

where someone from the team comes on a weekly

basis to help with the maintenance. “Our fastest

moving product, the kambha costs Rs 600. The

cost of other vessels and accessories ranges from

Rs 50-500, depending on the size and if someone

wants a specific design, there is an extra project cost. The cost of the service plan is Rs

2,000,” claims Poonam.

Challenges en route

One of the initial conflicts Poonam faced was to come to terms with the decision to make

Daily Dump an open-source idea, i.e., to allow other players to venture into it and not patent

it. Her friends thought that she was impractical in doing so and she was told that it is a

complete do-gooder scheme and not a viable business proposition. Poonam, however,

decided to march on. “I have just leveraged my expertise and haven’t put a cost to it.

Business analysts might think that my business model is all wrong, but I look at it as enabling

several others to make money from my ideas,” says Poonam. She even helps her clones in

setting up the business, locating the suppliers, and gives technical assistance related to

composting. The first slot of material can be obtained for free from Daily Dump.

On asked whether an open-source idea actually translates to increased competition, she

comments, “Do you know how many people we need in this business before the waste is

going to disappear from the society? Even if there are five clones of Daily Dump in

Bangalore, the problem is so enormous, it won’t suffice.” Daily Dump has clones in

Hyderabad and Chennai and more are expected to start up in Delhi, Pune and Chandigarh.

There are clones in Dubai, Israel and China who have taken assistance from Poonam in

setting up their business as well. The model is being replicated even in Florida. “I love the

fact that I am a woman living in a developing country, working with completely low tech

ideas, addressing a real urban problem and enabling someone in Florida to make money. Just

the thought of it is so exciting,” says Poonam.

Is it a profitable business? According to Poonam, an investment of Rs 50, 000 can ensure a

business that makes profits, within three months. She adds, “Although my time is not paid for

and I have to find another revenue source to compensate, everything else, including my team

of service employees, potters, and experts, are paid for by the sales of the product. I can still

say that it has been highly profitable for me. I have made a lot of friends and get a lot of

fulfillment when I sleep, being involved with such a good cause.”

Making it future perfect

Poonam is currently working on designing a mechanical composting device, which she

dreams would one day be fitted into everyone’s house and it would become like second

nature for people to use it. “Firstly, architectural solutions are required to execute this project.

Secondly, I need money to travel to places in India and abroad, to show the product to people,

as well as to educate them about composting. This, combined with a two-minute spoof on

composting by a Rajnikant or Amitabh Bachchan, aired free on a Star TV or Zee, and I’ll feel

like I have really achieved something,” she says. Again, she plans to make this an open

source idea for small fabricators all over the country to start replicating.

Whether it is constructing green buildings, using CFL lamps, driving eco-friendly vehicles or

something as simple as replacing plastic bags with those made out of paper; everyone seems

to be doing their bit to become a responsible, environment-friendly citizen. Poonam, by

offering a range of composting products and flexible service plans to households is not only

doing her bit, but has also paved the way for about a 1100 customers, based in Bangalore and

Chennai, towards becoming green citizens.

One question that you would perhaps like to answer is “How do I reduce my contribution to

the city’s garbage system without altering my lifestyle too much?” Well, let Daily Dump

answer that for you.

Daily Dump provides a commercial compost ‘pit’ that you can have at your home. All your

leftovers and other organic waste can be dumped into these pits. Within a few months this

becomes manure and you can use it for your garden or just sell it off to a needy farmer

maybe.

Early Days

Daily Dump, the brain child of Ms Poonam Bir Kasturi, evolved from the question – How

can design make a difference? Poonam graduated in Product Design in 1985 from the

National Institute of Design. She worked in a small scale manufacturing company after

college and then set up a craft based design company called Industree with two other

partners. She quit after 5 years and set up Playnspeak, a proprietorship concern, to make

products for the home. At the same time Poonam also was the founding faculty of Srishti

School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore which she in May 2008 to start Daily

Dump.

So, what exactly is Daily Dump?

In simple words, this product allows every homeowner to reduce their contribution to city

waste. In India, no commerical home composter was available till the Daily Dump product

was launched.

It is designed for a single family as the “customer”. It is supported by a service backup and

customer support. It actually helps families convert their wet waste into eco-friendly

compost. The knowledge base is open-source to encourage micro-enterprises.

How to start Daily Dump-ing?

1. Order a Daily Dump composting product from the address given below.

2. Install it in your home

3. Start putting all your organic waste in this compost pot.

4. Rejoice in having reduced the burden on your city’s waste management system!

The Product and its elements

Daily Dump has designed a product with which anyone can convert kitchen waste into

compost at home. The product, made of terra-cotta, is sourced from village potters. It is

marketed through word-of-mouth referrals, media awareness, and their website. It is sold

through channels including individuals, retail stores, and societies. The designs are ‘open

source’, so individuals in other locations can replicate, adapt, build on, sell and use – for wide

and rapid propagation of the idea.

The current product works well in independent homes; and they are working on a

‘mechanical composter’ for use in flats. Daily Dump’s vision is to see a composter pre-fitted

in every flat sold in the country, as a standard fitting. Daily Dump not only retro fits

composters at homes and other establishments but also provides maintenance advice and

assistance through its service plans, essentially allowing you to just dump and letting nature

and Daily Dump do the rest.

Product Range

This product, in addition to reducing waste, serves as a way to get over the social stigma

attached to waste in our country. Without being preachy it makes the job of taking care of

your waste “doable” and “possible”.

The potters who make the terra cotta pots have benefited significantly – their profitability has

increased since they started making these products.

The Team

The current Daily Dump team comprises of:

Poonam Bir Kasturi (Founder), Delara Damania (Designer), Savitha, Shwetha, Vinita, Trupti,

Sudheer and Anupama

Current Challenges

The challenge faced by the team presently is to create sustainable revenue streams and make

money out of all the research and design work that they have done. The team has also learnt a

lot and is looking to partner with NGO’s now to make strategic connections to enable waste

to be managed better all over the country. Daily Dump has a robust design and an easily

replicable one, which can be adapted by most people all over India.

Looking forward, Daily Dump is in the process of prototyping a mechanical composter to be

retrofitted into homes in India. For this, they are looking to work with builders and see if this

product can then enter into every home as a standard fitting.

The Daily Dump team is constantly trying to figure out:

How to get builders to retrofit a composter in each balcony and utility?

How to design a new mechanical composter such that it follows the cradle to cradle

philosophy and yet is cheap and fits into the informal manufacturing setup that dots the

Indian urban landscape?

Recognition

Daily Dump has received the following awards & honors:

“Nominated for the INDEX awards 2007 – an international award to improve the quality

of life

Awarded the Green Product of the Year by Anchor Better Interior Excellence Awards

2007

Made it to the final round of the TATA NEN Hottest Startups 2009.

Indira International Innovation’s ‘Star Entrepreneur of the Year Award’, 2009

Made it to the final round of the Sankalp Social Enterprise and Investment Forum Award

2009.

Contact and get your Daily Dump today

E-mail: dailydumpcompost@gmail.com

Phone: +91 80 41152288

Website: www.dailydump.org