Pune Startup Creates ‘Jatayu’ Machine To Keep Waste Pickers Safe Through Contactless Tech

Deval Gadhvi

Pune, 31st May 2021: According to Indian mythology, Jatayu was the vulture king who lost his life while trying to save goddess Sita. Today, ‘Jatayu’ is trying to save the lives of millions of waste pickers who suffer from life-threatening diseases because of the unhygienic and unsanitized atmosphere that they are exposed to daily.

Jatayu is a machine created by Spruce Up Industries, an Indian cleantech startup company trying to bring change to the environment that we live in by making it clean with the use of their technological marvel.

Spruce Up Industries, a Pune-based cleantech startup company, was founded by Abhishek Shelar, an IIT-Bombay alumnus who further pursued a Masters in Education from Harvard University in Massachusetts, US.

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Shelar specializes in cleantech hardware technology manufacturing. He has been religiously working in the field of cleantech to make innovations that can bring a positive change to the environment. Spruce Up is attempting to protect the health, safety, and dignity of the 1.5 million to four million waste pickers across the country through the intervention of mechanisation and technology.

“The machine can be mounted on a heavy vehicle like a truck or car and works like a vacuum cleaner, where the suction power lifts all kinds of garbage like coconuts, glass, bottles, leaves, medical waste, food waste, clothes, cans, shoes, and more. It is unlike any other machine available in the world as it is designed specifically for the Indian climate. Thus, it caters to the needs that are very specific to us,” Shelar informed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world the importance of sanitization. At times like these, touching an unclean surface could cost you your life. Due to Jatayu, sanitation workers don’t have to touch any of the litter as it has contactless technology. It also has a mechanism through which disinfectants can be sprayed before and after clearing the waste.

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‘Jatayu’ can be operated with the help of just one person which makes it easier to operate and use. What is unique about this specific machine is that it is very easy to operate and user-friendly. It can run hassle-free for up to seven years.

“Creating the machine was not the hard part. The challenging part was to make a machine that can adapt to the needs of India, something which could be completely made in India, could be easy to understand and is durable while being at par with all the advanced tech and still be available at a reasonable price, and we at Spruce Up took that challenge to restore the dignity of our waste pickers who have to endanger their lives every day to keep our surroundings clean,” Shelar added.

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