Digitizing waste management in São Paulo

In Brazil, only 59% of materials have an adequate destination: in general, all waste produced ends up in irregular landfills, including plastics, material that has a huge environmental impact, specially if we consider that Brazil has low recycling rates. For the public sector, we developed CTR-E, a software focused on waste traceability and control. With that tool, municipalities can track all the waste that is generated by companies and how that material is disposed, guaranteeing that it’s not going to irregular landfills. Nowadays, we impact more than 11 million people that live in São Paulo with CTR-E. Our solution can change the lives of people because it offers the technology that’s necessary to end incorrect waste disposal and improve the work of municipal organs that manage waste. It also provides data to create public policies regarding plastic and other materials.

Waste management are a problem not only in Brazil, but in Latin America. A lot of wate ends up in landfills - in Brazil, around 41 % of all the waste that is produced ends up being incorrectly disposed. That happens because:

• Little transparency of materials disposal, since they pass by many companies;
• Companies control their data on extraction, production and management of solid waste through individual worksheets and internal documents, a bureaucratic work that takes a long time and that is not very precise, without sharing data with partners. 
• Lack of consciousness about the waste problem and how materials can be recycled;
• Lack of consciousness and control  about raw materials extraction from international brands suppliers
• Lack of knowledge about legislation – In Brazil, we have federal laws that make big generators of waste responsible for that destination. But a lot of companies don’t know about that;
• A public power that can’t control or fiscalize in an efficient way to prevent incorrect disposal.

We offer a software that enables the public sector, especially municipalities, to implement new and innovative systems in their waste management. CTR-E is already a reality in São Paulo, impacting more than 11 million inhabitants.

All agents involved in generation and destination of waste: industry, commerce, hospitals; waste carriers and receivers; recycling companies or cooperatives; and governments, through environmental agencies. In the public sector, we’re constantly exchanging experiences so we can understand better how our solution can be used by other cities and states.
We also have an indirect impact in millions of people, specially those that live in cities, as we provided a cleaner environment for them. Our software has a positive impact in environment, since we can use our software to stop incorrect waste disposal, protecting water and soil. It is known that water contamination affects health, especially in developing countries, where virus and worms that cause Illnesses. Toxic and dangerous waste is also a risk when disposed in soil and water with no treatment. On the other hand, we have a projection now that if we continue to produce and dispose plastic in this rhythm, there’s going to be more plastic than fish in oceans by 2050. With transparency, technology and data, we can address that problem and move towards a circular economy, encouraging more recycling initiatives.

A problem found in all Brazilian cities is the difficulty of public authorities to track the generation of waste. That waste contaminates water resources, natural environment, soil, causes flood and represents a risk to urban population. We do have laws that holds big generators of waste accountable for their waste. In São Paulo, each part that generates more than 200 liters of garbage per day has to manage that waste correctly. But public authorities lack of fiscalization and making sure that all are obeying the law. So, this becomes a burden on governments, that must spend money and other resources to manage that waste. According to Amlurb (Autoridade Municipal de Limpeza Urbana or Municipal Authority of Urban Cleaning), daily, 21 thousand tons of garbage are produced in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. 
Thinking about that problem, PlataformaVerde has developed CTR-E, a blockchain software for waste traceability and control. All private entities of the city are obligated by law to register in the software and input data about what they generate, how they transport and where they destine their waste. Also, we developed QR Codes to monitor and track every waste transportation and generate automatic inputs in the software, making sure that all materials are being disposed correctly. Having a municipal tool that concentrates this data and that brings transparency to the garbage path, helps this process and empowers the public power to inspect and punish those that disrespect environmental law. The CTR-E was developed in 2017 and donated to São Paulo’s city. Through CTR-E, we could register more than 600,000 waste generators – before that, only one thousand companies declared themselves as big waste generators. Our expectation is to reach 347 thousand companies registered only in the city of São Paulo. Also, we helped the municipality to create policies that now enforce all the companies that are listed in Sao Paulo to make their registration in the system CTR-E. Having a municipal tool that concentrates this data and that brings transparency to the garbage path helps in this process and empowers the public power to inspect and punish those that disrespect environmental law.

The use of Blockchain technology for encryption, traceability and compliance of information is our main innovation. Our technology brings some unique things like:

• Blockchain use for waste traceability
• Blockchain for raw materials extraction traceability 
• Sensors and hardware applied in the process
• Integration with mandatory systems
• Integration with government systems
• Mobile applications for citizens
• Network between waste generators, transport contractors and final destination companies integrate with the municipality
• Several platform's in one network
• Blockchain as a Service monthly fee model
• Public freemium software for municipalities
• Clean production accelerate software
• Also, the use of QR Codes in equipments to track trucks loads, containers and the waste disposal is innovative.

In São Paulo, we already made big changes, allowing the public power to register more than 600 thousand waste generators in the city. With that, we expect to reduce by one thousand all the waste goes to landfills and also save up to R$ 130 million per year that the public power uses in waste management. Since our company is in the market, we have helped companies and cities to dispose their waste correctly. To population, that means a cleaner environment: it reduces the risk of contamination. We believe that technology is one of the answers to the great challenges we’re facing in sustainability. With data and more transparency – things that our blockchain BaaS offer -, we could digitalize and map all the use of raw materials and the waste produced in cities. We have a big dream that our solution will be used in all cities, providing these benefits for all citizens, regardless of the country they’re in. 

1. the current number of people you’re serving: 11 million 

2. the number you’ll be serving in one year: 25 million

3. the number you’ll be serving in five years: 240 million

Through CTR-E, we were able to register over 600,000 waste generators in São Paulo - among them 37,911 large generators. Prior to that, only a thousand companies claimed to be major waste generators. The savings generated for the municipality will be $ 130 million / year. Reports from the system itself can point to all registration data. Financial savings can be calculated based on Amlurb's fee payment for large waste generators now vs. those that self-declared before the project. Reduction of physical documents at Amlurb (all digitized); improved productivity of those working with enforcement; impact on urban cleanliness; vehicle inspection, inhibits outbreaks of incorrect disposal.

We want to have our solution in several cities but not only in Latin America, in all places that we can see lack of trust in the waste disposal services and with high disposal costs we can provide our SaaS tracking solution for surveillance's and our BI analytics to take action. The numbers that we already reached in São Paulo are heavily strong and can help us to apply worldwide 

We do not see any significant barriers to our business, but to our project run effectively we need to have a nearly approach with the municipalities regulators

We now are talking not only with the mayors but also with state governos and environmental ministry in Brasil. The idea is got the approve in all regulatory labels and also starting the approach with international non profit organisations.

São Paulo city, Brazil.

40 people full-time.

We started in Brasil because we got several environmental laws, and this giant and confusing  Brazilian regulations ecosystem don’t help to apply the right companies directions and we have seen that the company's didn't gave the right importance to them. We start to make them to see the “invisible" showing that if they are able to manage their chain of production also they are able to accelerate the sustainable process decreasing costs.

We are partnering with Amlurb (Autoridade Municipal de Limpeza Urbana or Municipal Authority of Urban Cleaning) from São Paulo municipality’s, the group AsAP, which studies the indicators to be achieved in 2030 for Accelerating Cleaner Production in Industry 4.0 from the World Economic Forum and the Toilet Board Coalisation.

We work with commercialization by charging a monthly fee to our private customers and by donating our public solution to other cities than São Paulo. The price varies from R$ 299 to R$ 999 (in dollars, from U$ 77,66 to U$ 258). It depends on what the company is (industry, commercial, transport company or recycler) and its size. Right now, we want to expand: build the same network outside of Brasil, scale and expand our business in different markets. We’re studying how to start our business in Curitiba (Paraná State) but also Santiago (Chile), and other countries in Latin America and Europe. The environmental issues are the same around the world, regulations and technical standards are very similar with some variants, but we can make small changes to help companies, cities and citizens to get a better accelerate of clean production and traceability of the disposal. 

We are increasing our sales every month, also we are recently funding money from VCs companies, and make the new negotiation for more VCs rounds. We have sure that our growth from the next 3 years is going to be based in investors and by internationalizing our software. Also, we combine that with our increasing sales.

We believe that IDB Group can provide us an important support so we can scale better and faster in Brazil and abroad. The prize would also help us to invest more money in our international expansion. By connecting with relevant stakeholders, we can present our solution and be validated by an international group focused in technology.

Corporate unions from different segments of Industry and Commerce that need consolidated solutions for managing the supply chains traceability.