Ms Wilma Rodrigues CTO, Saahas Zero Waste
Waste is one of the key challenges that people and our planet are required to sincerely address.
This realization began for her over twenty years ago when she moved from Mumbai to Bangalore and was terribly unhappy to see plastic and paper waste burning in the streets of this beautiful city. She felt grateful and decided to shift her focus from frustration to meaningful change on the ground.
She started the NGO Saahas in 2001. In those early days, the NGO focused on raising awareness about plastic pollution and implementing pilot projects with an emphasis on decentralized solutions for wet and dry waste.
Her second Saahas entity was registered as a Private Limited Company in 2013. Today, as the CEO of Saahas Zero Waste, it is satisfying to see the beginnings of change through the environmental and social initiatives they are able to implement on the ground. The company is focused on resource recovery through the collection, aggregation, and processing of municipal solid waste. She works with corporate campuses to implement zero waste systems and also collaborates with brands to support them in fulfilling their EPR compliance for plastic waste and e-waste. The company manages around 100 tonnes of waste per day.
Both entities believe in and demonstrate how nature, people, and technology can work closely to recover resources which can be put back to use.
She has had diverse work experiences and moved to Bangalore from Mumbai in 1995. She is a former journalist who previously worked with the Times of India group and BusinessWorld Magazine. Earlier, she worked with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. Her very first job was that of a tour guide, where she put her German-speaking skills to good use as she proudly introduced India to visiting German tourists.
She has a degree in Life Sciences from Bombay University.