RECYCLEARN

In Bangladesh:

• 8% of all waste is plastic
• Roughly amounts to 800,000 Tonnes
• 200,000 Tonnes dumped into rivers

What if we there was an opportunity cost to throwing away our waste? What if we got rewarded instead?

RECYCLEARN is a cloud-based, plastic waste collecting company focused on sustainability. It works with customers to find inefficiencies and cost-savings in their plastic waste stream. It has developed a mobile application to provide on demand plastic waste pickup. It's a platform which incentivizes proper waste disposal by rewarding individuals and households.

RECYCLEARN aims to cut costs for customers by working with suppliers to reduce inefficiencies and maximize the amount of plastic waste being diverted from landfills.

RECYCLEARN is planning to serve initially in Dhaka, later, it will expand its service countrywide. It is creating its own database that analyzes its customers’ plastic waste stream and makes sense of all the data on clients and recycling possibilities.

Problem Statement:
'Our unsustainable use of plastic, with borderline disregard for  the environment.'

Plastic pollution in Bangladesh’s environment continues unabated raising serious threats to human and animal health as we are yet to find a way for reducing its production and safe management.

Environmental & Health Aspect:

Bangladesh, a fast-growing economy in South Asia, is among the top 10 plastic-polluting countries while it is the 7th among the world’s plastic-consuming nations.

A study found that a total of 821,250 tonnes of plastic waste were generated in urban hubs of Bangladesh a year while some 207,685 tonnes were dumped in marine environment annually. It revealed that plastic wastes increased 17.52 times in 2014, compared to 1992.

A report showed that around 234,000 people died in Bangladesh, including 80,000 in urban areas, due to environmental pollution and pollution-related health risks in 2015.

Waste Management Aspect:

Per capita income has been rising along with the increase of GDP in Bangladesh. As such, the demands for production of consumable goods have also increased - resulting to the increased plastic usage. 

However, the problem is that a big portion of the process of plastic waste management or recycling - specifically in terms of collection and operation - is being done informally. 

For Collection:

• Urban households with rising disposable income. 
• Represents the growing middle class, roughly 34.3% of urban population.
• Highest spending on consumer products.

For Selling:

1. CRUDE+ - 70% Converted to Fuel without Carbon Emission
2. Housing and Building Research Institute - Converted to Building Block
3. Banyan Nation (Future Target)

Bangladesh dumps plastic waste worth Tk several crores daily for the lack of recycling facilities. Experts believe that - Proper recycling and treatment would reduce up to 7 per cent of the plastic waste that is dumped.

It is still not the time to ban all types of plastic as it became an unavoidable part of our daily life. However, we can reduce the use of plastic where there are alternatives and manage plastic waste where no alternatives are still available. 

Thus, what we need is a proper ecosystem of plastic waste management which is where our solutions comes in. 

Solution:

It is a platform which - 

• Incentivizes proper waste disposal by rewarding individuals and households.
• Educates the user regarding different facts and figures related to plastic usage, consumption and how it affects the individual health and environment as a whole.

How it works in 5 easy steps?

1. Consumers subscribe to our service, save their plastic for us.
2. We come take away their trash. Consumers earn reward points in exchange.
3. Consumers save reward points, with which they avail discounts/gift cards. This creates INCENTIVE.
4. The consumer is able to see detailed analytics about how his actions are saving the environment. This creates REINFORCEMENT
5. We sell the plastic to the concerned parties.

Collection Points:

1. Subscribed Bins

• Registered customers given basic bins
• Garbage will be collected from home directly on a weekly 

2. QR Code Bins

• Will be placed at strategic points around the city
• QR code to redeem points gained after putting in the bins.

Goal:

We believe that we all have a role to play. As individuals, we can reduce our plastic pollution and be more environmentally conscious. So, our goal reflects:

• DRIVING consumer behavior change in actions towards the environment.
• EDUCATE consumers about the harmful effects so that they are remain more cautious about maintaining the waste management system properly.
• Achievement of SDG goals - 15.1, 12.4, 14.1, 6.3, 11.6

As a whole, we aim to - 

• Improve the environment by promoting waste recycling activities in the country
• Develop a community and an ecosystem towards the improvement of the urban environment
• Create job opportunities by promoting the recycling of waste

As stated earlier, in addition to the harmful effects created by inefficient management of plastic wastage, the key problem remains in the collection and operation of plastic waste as they are being done informally right now. 

What we are trying to introduce is a new method of waste collection that not only collects waste by providing an incentive to the consumers but also creates a systematic way of plastic waste collection and educates the consumer regarding plastic usage and waste. 

We can point out the innovation of our idea in 2 dimensions:

1. Process Innovation:

• Creating a formal way of plastic waste collection from individuals and households as well as business organizations maintaining a value based supply chain.  

2. Product Innovation:

• App based plastic waste collection for recycling through digitized bin system.
• Utilizing 3 common platforms for the collection purpose (App, Website & Offline SMS based service)

We are focusing on driving consumer behavior change in actions towards the environment.

Current Situation:

• People in general doesn't actually realize the problems associated with mismanagement of plastic in terms of human, animal and environmental aspect.
• Lack of incentive, awareness and motivation at consumer level to participate in proper waste management.
• Informal way of waste collection.

Desired Change through our solution/activities:

• Educated Consumers - Knowledge provided to consumers through weekly or daily based push notification in the app. Will also be a separate section within the app and website containing plastic based facts and figures.
• Participation from the Consumers - Providing incentives so that they remain an integral and active part of the supply chain. No cost associated so that they remain motivated.
• Formal Waste Collection - Creating an app based systematized waste disposal and collection from the consumer level (Primary Waste Collection). Also creating a value chain at the secondary waste collection through affiliation and partnership. 

Short Term and Long Term Outcomes:

• Proper utilization of plastic disposal
• Economic Gain
• Environmental Benefits
• Export Potentials
• Awareness created

Short Term Goals:

• Creating Awareness about the importance of plastic waste management and role of every parties (including the consumer) within the supply chain.
• Motivating urban households to be an active part of the process in order to make a significant change in the process of waste disposal and collection
• Starting the operation in key areas of Dhaka city based on better possibilities of driving consumer behavior to the new system and convenience

Long Term Goals:

• Starting from waste disposal to collection to making the plastic waste recyclable (pelleting), RECYLEARN wants to create a whole new ecosystem of waste management itself 
• Partnering with key govt. and private stakeholders
• Generating high paying employment 
• Developing a formal ecosystem by the organization itself

Key Barriers:

• Changing the mindset of the individuals and households
• Human Resource management in terms of technical ability and operation
• Convincing the key partners associated with waste management

1. Mind-shift of Individuals & Households:

• By making them aware about the harmful effects of plastic waste as well as the importance and urgency of proper waste management.
• Through incentives and reinforcement

2. Human Resource Management:

• Hiring the informal agents to ensure maximum collection along with our own collector
• Utilizing the unemployed workforce of Bangladesh in technical and operation force, and thus generating employment

3. Partnership & Affiliation:

• Affiliating with the current working bodies at the root level in order to convince the formal regulatory bodies involved in policy making
• Being an active part in the operation of the city corporation. (Cleaning, sorting, collecting etc.)

Since, it is still on the idea stage, the founding members along with the tech team is working full time right now in order to make this business start its operation. Apart from that, we have some extra member in our team who have been actively involved with our idea. 

So, our team comprises of the following:

• Founding Members - 4
• IT & Technology - 2
• Full Time Partners - 2

1. Sk Mohaimen Hossain, CSCA: 

Being a Certified Supply Chain Analyst, he is well experienced and enthusiast in the supply chain and logistic side. He is looking after the supply chain department and feasibility of the business as well as focusing on the expansion plan.

2. Tasnim Shahriar: 

A young entrepreneur and the CEO of his own comapny. He has been always enthusiastic in maintaining a big network all over the Bangladesh and trying to solve the untapped problem of the country. He is focusing on the international business & communication section of our idea.

3. Sadman Haque Akash, CSCA: 

Being a Finance Graduate, he is keen about Business Intelligence and Operations. He is looking after the finance and business analysis of this business.

4. Saffat Tahrim Alam: 

Being a Marketing Graduate and well experienced in CRM and Marketing activities, she is focusing on building local partnership and marketing activities of this business. Also, she will handle the CRM once we start our operation.

One of the key barriers of our solution is the creation and management of systematic value based ecosystem for the entire plastic waste management, specifically plastic disposal and collection. So, bringing every relevant stakeholders (informal, formal & govt.) would be a massive challenge. 

Based on that, we believe Tiger IT Foundation can help us not only with the financial aid associated with the challenge but also with proper operational support, incubation and networking which will prove very effective in order to implement our solution and develop a effective, efficient and formal waste management system.  

For our business idea, affiliation and partnership would prove to be very fruitful if done correctly. 

Right now, we have our plan to partner with the following parties - 

• Dhaka City Corporation (For developing formal waste management)
• Concerned Government Regulatory Bodies (For mass level implementation) 

For providing incentives to the consumers, we are focusing on the following initially - 

• Telecommunication Companies (Banglalink)
• Restaurants 
• Superstores (Shwapno & Agora)
• Clothing Stores