Our impact
Lives changed, not lives touched.
We measure depth: people who move out of poverty for good, and waste that becomes material instead of landfill. Here is where we stand, as of December 2025, including where we fall short.
Certified B Corporation
- Figures as of December 2025
- Two sugar-free impact reports
01 · The numbers
Small numbers, counted honestly.
As of December 2025. None of this is big yet, and we would rather show you that than stretch it. Every figure is a person or a packet we can account for.
lives fundamentally changed
16 former waste-pickers and informal workers, now formally employed, and the 56 people in their households.
income, and it arrives on time
Formal pay, not daily wages that depend on the waste found that day.
dignified jobs
Contracts, health insurance, paid leave and a share in the company.
packets of multi-layer plastic recycled
That is 7.48 tonnes of "unrecyclable" waste kept out of landfill.
lives deeply impacted
Counting the households of everyone on our team.
Sources: our impact records to December 2025 and the 2025 impact report.
02 · How we measure
Depth first, then scale.
Quick, cheap help for large numbers looks good on a slide and changes little. So we count three depths, and lead with only one.
changedOur focus Lives impacted Lives touched
Depth 1 Our focus
Lives changed: Deep, permanent change. It takes time.
People who move out of multidimensional poverty for good. This is the only number we lead with.
- A former waste-picker in formal work
- Income that rises and keeps rising
- Security that lasts beyond one project
Depth 2
Lives impacted: Real, but rarely permanent on its own.
Help that matters in the moment, but does not usually change where someone ends up.
- Prescription glasses given
- Immunisations provided
- A one-day training
Depth 3
Lives touched: Easy to make big. Rarely changes much.
Numbers that look impressive and tell you little, useful in an emergency but not a measure of change.
- Free meals served
- Families of people trained for a day
- The neighbourhood waste was collected from
What a formal job here includes
03 · The people
Behind every number, a name.
Some of the former waste-pickers and informal workers who are now formally employed at Without®, in their own words and ours.
Jayashree
Shredding, washing and early processing
The first informal worker we ever employed. Her monthly income has tripled, she has a salaried bank account now, and she supports her daughter at school and her mother.
Rani
Leads pre-processing
Rani came to us from a local scrap shop in October 2022. She is the sole earner for her three children and now pays their school fees without taking loans.
Rahul
Extrusion and our patented process
The son of a former waste-picker, and the main earner in a household of seven. He helps run extrusion and sets up the reaction that lets us process chip packets.
Seema
Post-processing and finishing
Seema worked as a housekeeper at a university before joining us, and is the sole earner for her two children. She finishes our sunglasses, and her weaving made it to the ramp at Lakmé Fashion Week.
Our waste source
A scrap shop owned by the women who run it.
Our chip packets come from the Kashtachi Kamai scrap shop in Pune, owned and managed by 12 to 14 women, all members of KKPKP (Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat). They elect their leaders and decide together how profits are shared.
They collect multi-layer plastic for us because nobody else buys it, and we pay them a 3x premium for it.
Visit KKPKP04 · The Sphericality Index
Circular is not enough. It should be spherical.
Our own index scores a material on six dimensions at once, so a strength in one cannot hide a weakness in another. Here is VerdiFLX against virgin plastic, including the one dimension where virgin still wins.
Overall
VerdiFLX B100I scores 79.9, virgin polypropylene 64.4
Grade B against C
Choose a dimension round the chart to see where the difference comes from, including the one where virgin still wins.
| Dimension (weight) | Pellets: VerdiFLX / virgin | Sunglasses: VerdiFLX / virgin |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental impact (25) | 17.8 / 11.3 | 15.8 / 10.8 |
| Circularity (10) | 8.2 / 6.3 | 6.4 / 4.7 |
| Social fairness (30) | 26.8 / 22.7 | 26 / 22.7 |
| Economic viability (15) | 10 / 13.8 | 10.5 / 13.8 |
| Transparency (10) | 8.9 / 6.8 | 8.7 / 5.2 |
| Additionality (10) | 8.2 / 3.5 | 8 / 2.3 |
| Total | 79.9 (B) / 64.4 (C) | 75.4 (B) / 59.5 (D) |
Scores from our white paper, Beyond the Loop: Introducing the Concept of Sphericality (v1.0). The index and its scoring are our own.
05 · Where we can do better
The part most impact pages leave out.
We publish what is not working alongside what is. Sugar-free, as always.
Our demonstration plant opened late.
The Cradle started in late 2025, months behind schedule. Our focus now is tightening how we make things, so production is reliable.
The numbers still need work.
Circularity only lasts if it pays for itself. We are improving our economics in real time as production ramps up.
We were doing too much.
After exploring many product directions, we have had to make hard choices. In 2026 we stepped back from selling sunglasses directly and from small signage, to focus on partnerships with brands.
We let go of someone we had trained for two years.
It was painful, and it made us question whether our performance frameworks truly account for where our colleagues come from, and what we could have done earlier. We do not have all the answers yet.
Safety has to be a higher standard, every day.
Many of our colleagues come from workplaces where safety was never a given. They deserve a higher standard, consistently, not just better than before.
06 · Proof
Read it, check it, hold us to it.
Our reports, our certification and our accounts, all in one place.
Awards and recognition
- 2025One of four winners, L’Oréal Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Programme, SAPMENA
- 2025Sustainability Crusader Award, sustainability start-up (JP Shroff Foundation)
- 2025Times of India Ecopreneur Honours
- 2024DBS Foundation grant winner
- 2023Winner, Circular Design Challenge (United Nations, R|Elan and Lakmé Fashion Week)
- 2023First place, Net Impact Circular Plastics Challenge
- 2023Best Start-Up, India Circular Economy Forum
- 2023Best Start-Up, Industrial Green Chemistry World Awards
- 2023Top 3 Innovations and Start-up of the Month, ISC3
- 2023SWaCH Award, Pune Municipal Corporation
- 2022Winner, Unilever TRANSFORM India Plastic Challenge
- 2022Startup India Seed Fund, through AIC ISB
- 2021Winner, H&M Foundation Techtonic: Innovations in Waste Management
Our support system
The work is complex, and we would struggle without the people and organisations behind us. These are not logos to fill a page; we are genuinely grateful for every one.
Your turn
Can it be Made Without?
Every product made with our materials moves someone out of poverty and keeps impossible waste out of landfill. And if you think we can do better, tell us.