An online ‘basket’ to dispose of scrap materials

Kotta, mobile app by expatriates, provides people a link with scrap dealers

Deposit all your scrap materials, be it plastic, paper or electronic waste, in ‘Kotta’ (basket) and the nearest scrap dealer will come to you to empty your basket, if you want.

Kotta is an innovative mobile application from Kozhikode based start-up FRNZ innovation, a group of five expatriates, that was launched just a few days ago. It is an application for those who wish to sell their scrap materials, while there is another named ‘Kotta Partners’ for the dealers. You just have to post a photograph of the scrap that you wish to sell and the message immediately reaches scrap dealers.

The concept of Kotta emerged in the mind of Zubair K.P, one of the directors of FRNZ, a scrap dealer himself. “It was during the first lockdown, and everything had gone online, when we thought about putting the scrap business also online,” said Shyshad S.V, the Managing Partner of FRNZ. The three other Directors, Fayiz Mukkolakkal, Raaid Mukkolakkal and Nazar Mohammed Ibrahim, are working in Saudi Arabia, and are funding the project.

“We conducted a detailed survey and found that at least 30% of our people have no idea about what to do with their scrap materials. They are reluctant to allow ragpickers in their compounds. So we thought about providing ragpickers an authorisation to make them more acceptable,” Shyshad said. They conducted a test run of the application for three months before the launch.

At present, the application is available in five districts, Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram and Palakkad, though the makers plan to make it available across Kerala in a short time. Around 1,500 scrap dealers from these districts are part of the initiative. Kotta will be a non-profit application initially as it may take time for sellers and dealers to get used to it. Later on, the makers plan to levy a small commission for each purchase.

Actor Mamukoya is the brand ambassador of Kotta.