Why We Keep Doing the so-called “Impossible”?

You know what people always ask us when they hear about our work?
“Seriously? You're trying to collect and recycle waste from those remote mountain villages?
“Do you even make money doing that?”
“Why put yourself through all that trouble?”
Honestly? Sometimes I ask myself the same questions. On paper, this probably looks crazy.
The numbers don't always add up the way investors would like.
But the thing is – we keep doing it anyway, simply because this work means something deeper to us than just running a business.

Recycling & Upcycling Is About More Than Just Waste

For us, our work isn't just about waste management. It's about bringing back something we lost along the way.
Think about it – our grandparents and their grandparents lived in perfect circles. Everything they used came from nature and went back to nature. Sal leaves for plates, clay pots for storage, cotton and hemp clothes that would eventually become rags, and then compost. Nothing was wasted because nothing could be wasted.
Then plastics arrived, and suddenly convenience became king. We traded balance for ease,
and honestly, who could we blame? Life got simpler in so many ways. But now, two years into this journey with Kleanit Upcyclers, I've learned that recycling isn't really about following some trendy environmental movement. It's about giving back to this incredible world that has given us everything – our lives, culture, and our identity.

The Road We’ve Chosen

We've been working all across Nepal – from the busy streets of Kathmandu to the quieter
corners of Pokhara, down to Dang, and way up into mountain communities where the air is thin and the roads... well, let's just say they're more like suggestions than actual roads.
And yes, it's challenging. The distances feel endless sometimes. Getting materials up and down those mountain paths is a logistical nightmare, but not impossible. The weather changes its mind about as often as a teenager, and just when we think we've got everything figured out, another crisis hits. But then we see a small spark of hope at the end of the tunnel, and that makes it all worth it.

Building Circularity Where It’s Hardest

Here's what we've realized: if we only build these circular systems in places where it's easy and profitable, then we're not really creating anything circular at all.
Real change – the kind that we imagine and think matters the most – means nobody gets left
out, even when the road is steep and the math is complicated. The crazy thing is, some of
Nepal's most remote places are dealing with the worst plastic pollution, but they're also the
places that formal waste management systems completely ignore because the maths doesn't make sense.
That's exactly why we designed a different method to flip the script and go decentralized.

Flipping the Script: Decentralized & Local

We start small and close to home instead of waiting for big investments and big answers to
trickle down. We work with communities to set up their own collection networks, create micro upcycling centers right where people live, and spend time helping folks understand why this matters.
Then we watch as these small changes ripple outward.
We're turning waste plastic into lumber that actually lasts, creating furniture that people are
proud to use. We partner with local governments and community leaders.
Slowly but surely, we would like to prove that sustainable living doesn't have to be imported from somewhere else – it can grow right here in Nepali soil, rooted in the values we've always had.
Ultimately, we believe, the economics and maths will start to make sense.

Where Healing Begins

Because if a circular economy only works in Kathmandu, it's not working at all.
At Kleanit Upcyclers, we believe the real work starts in the places where balance got disrupted first – up in our mountains, along our rivers, in the small communities where Nepal's heart still beats strongest.
That's where we choose to work. Not because it's the easy path, but because that's where
healing begins.
And that, more than anything else, is what keeps us going.