Jabir Karat's "Crazy" Success: Ex-Minister Thomas Isaac Shares Green Worm's Growth Story

Kozhikode, Kerala: Former Kerala Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Isaac shared a Facebook post highlighting the inspiring story of Jabir Karat, a Delhi University postgraduate who defied conventions choosing a career in waste management. As the founder and CEO of Green Worms waste management company, Jabir is actively engaged in waste management, a profession often looked down upon by educated youths.

It was during a recent visit to Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) industrial park that Isaac went to the waste management plant and met Jabir, recalling his previous encounter with the young entrepreneur.

Read Also: Green Worms: Kerala’s First ‘Refuse Derived Fuel Unit’ Launched in Malappuram

The former minister remembered a social media post he shared in 2016, in which he introduced Jabir as a postgraduate from Thamarassery, Wayanad, noting that “many people think Jabir is “crazy” because this postgraduate had chosen waste management as his profession, not research or a job, and that he’s not even making enough to survive.” The CPI(M) central committee member recalled that the company had a turnover of Rs 15 lakh back then.

Taking to his social media platform on Wednesday, June 4, the Left leader revealed the Green Worm’s current turnover is Rs 70 crore, calling Jabir one of Kerala’s leading waste management entrepreneurs.

Jabir launched his brain child ‘Green Worms’ in 2014, braving the stigma associated with an educated young man turning to waste collection and segregation, a job mainly done by the so-called marginalised scrap dealers and rag pickers back then. Currently, it provides services to 186 local self-government institutions, including the Kochi, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram corporations.

The CPI(M) leader said that the waste management company processes around 55,000 tonnes of waste and has 12 different types of waste management plants, and has employed 827 people across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Andamans, with 599 being Malayalis.

“Jabir has now set up a large plastic recycling plant at the Kannur KSIDC park. The plant sorts plastic into five types, purifies, crushes, and converts it into granules, which are sold to plastic manufacturers. They have already started exporting, which accounts for 15% of their Rs 70 crore turnover*,” the former minister pointed out.

Read Also: Measures To Enhance Transition To Circular Economy

Thomas Isaac, also an economist, added that Jabir’s priority is giving preference to Kerala-based entrepreneurs and workers. He is hiring more women workers from Kerala, and 45% of his 827 employees are women, he said.

Last year, Green Worms inaugurated an innovative waste management and fuel extraction plant, the revolutionary fuel extraction unit, the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). RDF is the process of creating fuel from combustible materials extracted from waste, such as municipal solid waste, construction waste, and other domestic waste.

The Green Worms unit, with a processing capacity of over 30,000 metric tonnes of waste, is currently treating around 70 percent of waste from Malappuram district collected through local self-government institutions.

* the figures have been corrected after checking with Jabir Karat