Florence Energy

Whilst still an intern, Aushim visited a landfill site in 2009. He was appalled to see a mountain of waste being climbed by children who dangerously scavenged anything of value to sell to be able to feed themselves for the day. This sparked an idea within Aushim for a waste-to-energy solution that could solve the issue in front of him, as well as the issue of energy access that continues to hinder development in South and South-East Asia.

Aushim, whilst studying at the University of Adelaide, started Florence Energy (2010) to establish a decentralised waste management system that produces fuel from plastic wastes in landfill sites. The systems are installed at landfill sites to convert waste to petroleum with zero emissions. The organic component is converted to compost which is given to farmers to reduce their dependence on fertilisers. The technology was optimised in collaboration with MK Aromatics Limited and the University of Adelaide. The company works with government-run landfill sites and directly with packaging companies to source the materials. It directs this waste to large facilities in Chennai and Goa, where their technology is used to safely and sustainably process plastic waste into crude oil. To date, the company has managed to transform 27,000 tonnes of plastic waste into 21+ million litres of petroleum.

In addition to the environmental benefit of creating a circular economy, Aushim is also focused on improving the labour market in the waste management sector. In the industry, labour is traditionally informal, but Aushim ensures that all staff are set up with a bank account into which they receive their salaries directly; and assistance is provided for labour to acquire their government-issued identity cards to access the benefits they are entitled to. This financial inclusion unlocks greater opportunities for development as individuals and participants in the economy.

Florence Energy is seeking strategic partners to assist with the listing of the company on Sustainable Market Indices to leverage the carbon credit savings being generated from its business.

“Florence Energy is advancing human security at pace and at scale, and the clarity with which the company continues to grow can be attributed to the life-changing opportunity of the prestigious One Young World Summit. The world we live in is like a ship and we, as a generation, carry the greatest shared responsibility to serve and protect this ship of humanity for ourselves and the generations to come.”