let's Know More About Sayak Acharjee- The Man Behind Wealthy Waste

With the rise in plastic waste across the globe, many people are now venturing into using eco-friendly products. Seeing these increasing demands, several companies—both old and new—are focusing on making more and more eco-friendly products.

Wealthy Waste is a new company initiated by Sayak Acharjee and Anish Pyne. It is making a name for itself in the market for eco-friendly products.

Wealthy Waste, as the name suggests, is a company focused on manufacturing products from Waste and recyclable materials. The goal of making things out of trash is to reduce the amount of trash on the planet.

Acharjee, an electrical engineering graduate from the Institute of Engineering and Management (IEM), Kolkata, wanted to make Earth less like the Hollywood movie Wall-E, so he started making eco-friendly products.

The company's only goal has been to use less plastic and plant more trees. Acharjee strongly believes that if someone isn't part of the solution, they are part of the pollution.

Sayak Acharjee started Wealthy Waste while in his first year of college. The venture was fully supported by the college's entrepreneurship cell and his professors. As a result, the college gave the company its first order of 10,000 products in exchange for Rs 2,00,000.

Starting with an initial order of 1,000 products, the company soon began to spread its wings, and in no time, Sayak Acharjee, his team, and Wealthy Waste started getting recognition.

Several institutions, schools, and organizations started reaching out to them. Among the notable institutes and organizations are MKH Sacheti Public School, Nagpur; NIT Patna; IIEST Shibpur; UEM Kolkata; SIU; and some NGOs.

Some of the products manufactured by Wealthy Waste include paper pens, recycled paper pencils, bamboo brushes, bamboo and paper straws, etc. Among these, a few products, like paper pens, are not 100% eco-friendly, but the team has done its best to minimize the use of plastic.

Wealthy Waste has been recognized for its exceptional work. The Telegraph and Lokmat Times have featured this eco-friendly start-up. The company has partnered with TEDx, NITs, the Wadhwani Foundation, IEM UEM Group, and schools.

Wealthy Waste recently received a congratulatory and appreciation message from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for its yeoman service. In its message, the PMO thanked the NGO and wished them success for their future endeavours. In addition, the company organized a mega online event like Perivallon 2020, which had over 2000 participants, 20+ speakers and entrepreneurs, 40+ brand collaborations, and many prestigious institutions.

Wealthy Waste has also been recognized by the Wadhwani Foundation, apart from winning accolades from the NIT Patna Entrepreneurship Cell, the NIT Silchar Director's Desk, the Jeevan Joyti Foundation, the Art of Living Foundation, etc.

Wealthy Waste has also been a big part of teaching and encouraging young people and college students to improve their soft, technical, and non-technical skills for free with the help of well-known speakers and tutors.

Wealthy Waste worked with The Art of Living Foundation, Kolkata, and IAHV volunteers during the pandemic. For two months, it raised rations of Rs 51,000 for daily wage workers and economically disadvantaged families in Newtown and Salt Lake, Kolkata.

Much of the company's success can be credited to Sayak Acharjee's personality because the company reflects much of his thoughts and personal vision.

Acharjee is a volunteer at The Art of Living Foundation as the state's youth project coordinator. He is also a member of Toastmasters International's Kolkata Chapter.

During his second year of college, Sayak Acharjee won the Best Paper Award (ICCAES 2019) on the topic "Waste is Innovation: The Tagline of Wealthy Waste."

The young innovative entrepreneur has also been awarded the Dr. Sudarshan Chakraborty Award 2022, IEM's most prestigious award, which is given to the "Best Performing Student."

The young and dynamic entrepreneur has also been invited to speak publicly at many institutions, schools, and start-up events.

He firmly believes that youth and students should venture into start-ups not because these can be profitable but because, by doing so, they can learn a lot, gain knowledge, and experience new skills.

Acharjee feels that the present generation is ignorant about education, the essential part of a person's life. The completion of one's primary education is thus very crucial, he says.

He believes there is no shortcut to success. One may need to do odd jobs to gain experience. Sayak Acharjee gained skills and knowledge by working at a friend's grocery store, interning at other start-ups, and volunteering for social projects.

Apart from being an entrepreneur, Sayak Acharjee loves cooking, listening to Indian classical music, exploring "Aghories," studying criminal physiology, and volunteering for social projects. He is also a DAN-1 black belt Taekwondo player and a trained Indian classical singer.

Although he is currently out of the loop, he hopes to pick up these disciplines again in the near future.