indo.science

IndoKarban × IndoKids

Turning plant waste into a future

Invasive thorn trees and crop waste become biochar, carbon credits and building blocks, and the value they create pays for a home for children.

Watch the films Work with us
2:03

The idea

Across India, invasive plants and crop waste are often burned in the open. We think that waste can do more good. Turned into biochar, a stable charcoal that locks carbon away for a long time, it can earn carbon credits, which companies buy to offset their emissions.

The same biochar can go into building blocks made by women from local self-help groups, who earn wages for the work. Value from both streams flows towards one purpose: a home where children without parents grow up with a house mother, good food and good schooling.

Plant waste→ Biochar→ Blocks made by a women's group→ A home for children

The question we're exploring

Can waste that would otherwise be burned become climate value and useful building material, and can that work help pay for a children's home?

Two connected parts

IndoKarban

Making biochar from invasive plants such as prosopis juliflora and lantana, and from crop residue such as wheat straw, at low cost and to a high, verifiable standard. That means understanding machines, feedstock (the plant waste fed in), capacity, and what carbon-credit registries require.

IndoKids

Using biochar in concrete blocks, pavers and precast parts for village councils, rural housing and the open market. The purpose behind it is a home for 10 to 15 children, supported by company social-responsibility giving (CSR), environmental and social funding (ESG) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Films

One story, told four ways

Short films for different people. Pick the one that fits you, or watch them all.

2:03

For funders and partners

How it works

The full picture: the thorn tree problem, the mobile reactor, digital tracking and independent checks, and how it maps to the UN goals.

0:45

For families and children

The land along the Chambal

A picture-book story told by the land itself, from the thorn tree's arrival to homes for children.

0:45

For donors

A gift that keeps giving

Carbon pulled from the sky and locked into stone, with work that pays for itself again every year.

0:45

For young people

Turning waste into a future

Fast and loud: the scale of the problem, and what one machine can do about it.

What we work on

  • Cost and capacity modelling for turning different plant wastes into biochar
  • How biochar behaves in concrete and building blocks
  • Carbon-credit integrity, including "additionality": showing the climate benefit would not happen without carbon-credit money
  • Community work with farmers and women's self-help groups
  • Short explainer films for parents, youth, farmers, donors and nature lovers

Methods

Pyrolysis
Heating plant material with little oxygen so it becomes biochar instead of burning away.
Carbon-credit methods
The rules registries use to check and count the carbon stored.
Modelling and materials research
Financial models, data analysis and tests of biochar in concrete.
Film and AI-assisted research
Explainer films for outreach, and AI as a research and modelling partner.

Work with us

We are doing this work and would be glad to do it together. If any part of it fits what you do, write to us.

  • Freelancers and specialists: engineering, materials and concrete, carbon-credit methods, data, design and film
  • Investors and funders: climate finance, impact investing, CSR and ESG programmes
  • Partners: farmers' groups, self-help groups, NGOs, builders and researchers

Write to with a line on who you are and how you'd like to help.