Help Us Green Llp

In their own words

Karan Rastogi, a resident of Kanpur, India, about a five-hour train ride from Delhi saw a problem. In India, people bring flowers to temples on a daily basis – gifts for the gods, blessings for life, for celebrations and rituals – to the tune of more than 8 million metric tons per year. These flowers are thrown into the Ganges and other rivers, dumping toxins like arsenic, lead and cadmium used in pesticides along with the flowers, thus polluting the rivers and causing enormous levels of water-borne diseases. So, they’ve created a beautiful new company Help Us Green, that is a model of the circular economy that could help build a sustainable world. Daily, flowers are collected from temples and then separated by women who then dry them and transform them into incense sticks, warming compost and, soon, colours and other products. The women hail from the rural marginalized community, excluded from most opportunities to change their lives. But Karan and Kartikey wishes to see the world differently. A bus drives the women to and from work where they also are given two meals a day, clean water (the women sometimes fill their bottle to take home to their children), and a steady, stable job. That is the real beauty. I wish you could meet the women. They told me how differently they feel as people to be respected. They love coming to one place rather than move from house to factory to house. They feel fresh and clean and like being around the flowers. They were humble about learning the skills needed, admitting it took some longer than others but now they love that they’ve mastered rolling the incense sticks. Even more, they love that the sticks return to the temples as blessings again. So many blessings! It fills them with joy that these products are used in places where they are denied to step in at times. Recently, they have tied up with the Art of Living (SSRDP) for Kashi Vishwanath Temple to ensure that no flower goes waste. This will not only provide employment to over 50 rural women but will also ensure their self-respect and pride. Up till now they have recycled over 1.8 million kilos of flower waste and have changed the lives of over 23 families. Due to their mission has gained the interest of not only the Indian media but overseas as well. They were awarded by the United Nations in 2018 as a Momentum of Change, Fast Company World Changing Ideas, Forbes 30 Under 30, India, Grant Thornton Face of Vibrant Bharat 2021 and many more. If we only looked at the problems around us and saw them as incredible opportunities to make change, and then considered how we do the work as important as what we do, more of us would find the meaning and purpose that sometimes feels elusive to too many in our fast-paced world. More than that, in our interdependent world, we need more circular economy examples that integrate all stakeholders and not just shareholders into the way we do business.

Written by the company on its public Startup India profile. Not verified by us.