An online news platform The Better India (TBI) wrote a story this February about an Indian startup Carbon Craft Design founded in 2019 by Mumbai-based Tejas Sidnal, which manufactures carbon tiles using pyrolysis char derived from end-of-life tires.

TBI highlights that India has been recording an increase in PM 2.5 pollution since 2010. According to the World Air Quality Report, 14 of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities are located in India with the building and infrastructure industry contributing 39 per cent of the total energy-related carbon emissions. With the intention of creating a commercial solution to curb carbon emission, Tejas Sidnal started Carbon Craft Design, a Mumbai based startup that helps mitigate pollution and recycle pyrolysis char from end-of-life tires into carbon tiles.

This Mumbai startup is making flooring tiles from pyrolysis char derived from end-of-life tires. | Video by The Better India.

Tejas was inspired by a company, Air Ink, that turns soot into ink, and began exploring how pollution can be converted into building materials. In May 2019, Carbon Craft Design launched its first carbon tile production. The manufacturing of the carbon tiles is a three-step process. First, carbon is collected from tire pyrolysis based factories, which is then processed at a facility and finally converted into tiles at a manufacturing unit located in Morbi, Gujarat. The entire process of making these tiles consumes one-fifth of the energy required to make vitrified tiles and reduces air pollution by 30,000 liters of carbon for each tile made.

“When we realized that 39 per cent of energy-related carbon emissions are due to the building and infrastructure industry, it made sense to look at air pollution as a larger issue,” Tejas says.

TBI says that apart from having a zero-waste manufacturing process Carbon Craft Design provides employment to local artisans by incorporating traditional techniques into the manufacturing process.

Article by The Better India.