The Future Shouldn’t Come Wrapped in Plastic. WITHOUT to the rescue!

For decades, India’s tryst with plastic waste has grown into a crisis. Plastics for change says India produces an estimated 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, nearly 20% of the global total. Among the most dangerous types is multi-layered plastic (MLP), the kind used in packets of chips, wrappers and sachets.

Despite their ubiquity, these shiny laminates are considered “impossible to recycle.” Less than 1% of all collected MLP is processed, leaving the rest to pile up in landfills, clog drains or burn in open dumps.

For India’s four million informal waste pickers, who handle this material daily, it’s more than an environmental issue, it’s a human one. MLP is low-value waste that exposes them to toxic fumes and contamination while offering minimal financial return.

Pune-based startup WITHOUT is trying to solve both problems, using deep tech to make the unrecyclable recyclable and inclusive entrepreneurship to make waste work dignified and profitable.

From Finance to Fixing Waste. The Idea Behind WITHOUT

Anish Malpani, the founder of WITHOUT, began his career as a finance director in New York, far from India’s landfills. But the pursuit of purpose brought him back.

In 2020, Anish founded WITHOUT, a name symbolizing a world without waste and without poverty. His mission was simple yet radical: increase the value of unrecyclable waste while redistributing that value to the poorest in the chain, the waste pickers.

What started as a small R&D lab in Pune has evolved into a deeptech social enterprise with global relevance, one that uses science to redefine what waste is worth.

The Technology That Makes the Impossible Possible

At the heart of WITHOUT’s innovation lies its proprietary technology, Verdicycle. The process tackles MLP at the molecular level.

Using chemical demetallization, delamination, decolorization and dissolution, Verdicycle separates the tightly bonded layers of metal, PET and polyolefins that make MLP so resistant to recycling.

The result: high-quality materials like polyolefins (PP + PE) and PET, extracted in their pure form. The system operates at just 120°C under atmospheric pressure, is water-based and uses no organic solvents, making it both energy-efficient and environmentally safe.

The team of WITHOUT has filed three patents: 

• One for its core Verdicycle process
• And two others for enhanced polyolefin formulation and triacetylic acid purification (a PET byproduct traditionally derived from fossil fuels).

In simple terms, WITHOUT has done what few thought possible, turn single-use plastic into reusable raw material without harming the environment.

From Packets of Chips to Sunglasses. Building Products With a Message

As a proof of concept, WITHOUT launched its first consumer product line: eyewear made from recycled chips packets.

The launch was more than symbolic, it proved the scalability and quality of the recycled output. The first batch sold out within a week and the company’s appearance on Shark Tank India, Season 3 introduced the brand to a national audience.

Beyond eyewear, WITHOUT now makes buttons, tiles, signages, guitar picks, planter pots, coasters and bottles, all derived from MLP waste.

Its demonstration plant in Pune, inaugurated in 2025, can process 5 tonnes of complex post-consumer waste per month, including MLP and soiled textiles. The plant bridges the gap between R&D and commercial scalability, paving the way for a fully commercial plant set to launch in 2026.

Empowering Waste Pickers Through Technology

Partnering with SWaCH, a Pune-based solid waste management cooperative, the startup formalizes informal waste workers into stable, dignified employment.

So far, 16 former waste pickers have joined WITHOUT as machine operators, quality controllers and logistics staff. Their incomes have doubled or even tripled and many now hold employee stock options, making them true stakeholders in the business they helped build.

This model embodies inclusive capitalism, a system where innovation benefits not just investors and consumers, but also those who have long been invisible in the supply chain.

Funding and the Road Ahead

WITHOUT began as a bootstrapped venture, with Malpani investing $200,000 of his own savings. The idea quickly drew attention from global sustainability investors.

The company later secured a $150,000 R&D grant from Unilever, followed by a $1.9 million seed round led by UK-based Rewilding Wealth, with participation from Spectrum Impact, Acko co-founder Vishwanathan Ramarao and others. The new capital is being used to expand production, file additional patents and build the company’s first commercial-scale plant.

While WITHOUT’s consumer products are modest revenue streams today, the real opportunity lies in licensing its proprietary technology to FMCG and packaging manufacturers globally, a move that could redefine circular production models at industrial scale.

In addition to all this, there’s a growing global trend of celebrities supporting tech startups. From healthtech to edtech to climate tech, stars are increasingly backing tech startups and innovations that align with their values.

In India too, this movement is gaining momentum. Bollywood actress Dia Mirza has joined the effort as a strategic advisor, investor, and advocate for the sustainable deeptech company WITHOUT®.

A “B Corp Certified” Circular Vision

WITHOUT recently achieved B Corp certification, placing it among a select group of global companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance.

The certification underscores WITHOUT’s belief that business can be both profitable and purposeful. Its model blends deeptech innovation with ESG principles, proving that climate tech can be both scalable and socially equitable.

The company’s long-term goal is to build a global circular economy infrastructure that turns waste into value and value into empowerment.

“The Futurism Today” Is Incomplete Without Tech News. Just as India’s Climate-Tech Story Is Incomplete Without “WITHOUT”

WITHOUT stands at the intersection of science, sustainability and social reform. Its technology is redefining how economies can balance profit with purpose. It doesn’t just recycle.

In an era when startups often chase scale and valuation, WITHOUT is pursuing something more enduring, systemic change. By transforming plastic that was once “unrecyclable” into usable material and empowering those who handle it, the company is rewriting both the science and ethics of sustainability.

If scaled globally, WITHOUT’s model could mark a turning point for the circular economy, proving that deeptech can heal the planet while uplifting people. It is a blueprint for how technology can create prosperity: without waste, without poverty and without compromise.

In that sense, India’s climate-tech revolution is indeed incomplete without “WITHOUT.”