As more people look to on-demand delivery services and other contactless grocery pickup options, the amount of packaging and long-distance supply chains required to make that happen can create a large amount of waste.
However, Austin startup Trashless is taking the grocery delivery model local. And as it looks to close on more funding, it eyeing an expansion into Dallas and other Texas cities early next year.
“Groceries and household goods are a multi-trillion dollar industry… and a really, really big space. And that kind of explains how many millions of tons of plastic gets stuffed into the oceans every day,” Yogesh Sharma, co-founder and CEO at Trashless, told NTX Inno.
Trashless was officially launched in September, a rebranding of Sharma’s Lettuce Networks, which was launched in 2016 to create a network of small, urban gardens in the Austin region. As that venture grew, Sharma said customers began asking for more products than just the produce that was being harvested. And as more products were added, the company relaunched with a new look and new focus.
“It was just closer to what we wanted to do and what we wanted to project,” Sharma said.
While Trashless no longer gets its products from its network of small plots, the company still retains its focus on local goods. The company sources products from independent growers and producers of grocery and household items. And though not everything can be sourced locally all the time, Sharma said the company’s commitment to zero-waste is a must. All of Trashless’ products come delivered in a reusable container that gets picked up, washed and reused after the user returns it.
“The local part of it is local when possible but the zero waste part of it is a cardinal rule,” Sharma said.
He also said that in the beginning of the pandemic, he saw delivery demand increase nearly three-fold. And while that number has returned to a stable level, Sharma is looking to expand the Trashless service into new markets.
“It would basically be copying what we’ve done in Austin and taking it over to these cities,” Sharma said.
Last month, Trashless kicked off a crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine. In that time, Trashless has raised nearly $59,000 from 56 investors.
“We feel we are a type of company that is people powered... we feel we want to maintain independence from investors,” Sharma said. “For especially an idea like this, it is the way to go.”
The new funds will help the company expand to Dallas, as well as Houston and San Antonio in the first quarter of next year. As it expands in the region, Sharma said he plans to look for local partners of grocery items and goods, similar to those one would find at a local farmers market to supply its service.
The expansion also means new jobs. The number of new jobs created in each market will be based on demand. However, Sharma said if demand in Dallas were as strong initially as it is now in Austin, Trashless would likely need to hire about 20 people in corporate, driving and fulfilment roles. Currently, the company has about 12 corporate team members and about 15 drivers and other associates.
As the company looks to grow more, Sharma said Trashless is eyeing markets outside of Texas for planned expansions in the second half of next year.
“I wake up every morning and think, can we move the dial on all these green statistics that we see pretty much every day about climate change, and we have not even scratched the surface yet,” Sharma said. “And we truly believe we have a microcosm of an idea that can really have an impact, and we just want to create that impact and do it profitably, do it affordably, for us as well as consumers, and really create a paradigm shift.”
