Trash Earn

An automated machine with an easy-to-use mechanism for collecting and collapsing waste deposited by waste pickers instantly gives off an incentive to the user.

Food products which eventually turn into waste crisis together with ungovernable garbage entering our oceans are both issues the globe is still figuring out how to solve, with a whopping 1.3 billion tonnes per year of waste generated globally according to The 2012 edition of Plot o Waste: A Global Verses of Solid Waste  Management presented by the World Bank shows the world is sinking on its own waste. Food loss and waste (FLW) studies are estimated to be 30 % globally posing a real threat to food security and environmental sustainability (FAO 2015). In South Africa alone, about 10 % of municipal waste is recycled or reused. Moreover zooming in on the sub-Saharan Africa region it was reported that about 40 % of the waste produced is primarily food and green waste. Furthermore, waste collection rates were about 44 % with the waste collection rates much higher in urban than in rural areas, with the region experiencing substantial modernization, a need for focus on improving collection coverage and improving disposal of sites is highly called for.   ( Plot a Waste 2.0: A global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050)

In efforts to mitigate litter and its effect of being not disposed of well,  food waste through having to dispose of rotten products or food items that one no longer needs, limiting long processes of earning from disposing recyclable items for informal recyclers and nullifying the difficulty recycling companies have to face when sorting garbage accordingly because we’ve noticed many people do mix waste which is not favorable for waste companies so we aim to bring about the culture of disposing waste accordingly and making every food item count a person’s stomach rather than having to be thrown away. Through our more technological garbage bins with a simple mechanism that we aim to develop which will have sections for all waste items ranging from recyclable materials such as paper and cardboard, plastic, bottles, glass, etc to some reusable non-recyclable items.

A technological garbage bin with an identification verification tool through a scanner, a mechanism that is able to detect the kind of waste and count quantity or weighs size of it, having a mass or quantity displayer for the person disposing of waste then issues a  voucher as an incentive that can be used to buy groceries, used in property stores and buying prepaid electricity which can all be bought from our partnering retailers. The second item which caters to food waste will be also a technological bin with a barcode scanner, an expiry date verification tool, a mechanism that is able to detect the product and approve it, and a voucher dispenser giving out a  voucher that can be used on our partnering retailers items.

We believe with the quickly advancing technological world we’re in, the product will have a positive response in the market since it’ll stimulate the waste management market by a mile and increase waste collection percentage as companies will have much garbage to recycle and re-usable items to sell or recreate them and make money from it while helping the environment. Somewhat the product creates awareness about food waste and solid waste and allows society to participate effectively and gain out of it easily. So we see food waste decreasing and solid waste disposal is improved in most countries using this project. With unemployment rates raging in our countries these product aim and has the ability of economic redistribution and somewhat have the potential of creating job opportunities while maximizing profits for waste and energy-producing companies. All states across the globe are looking for ways of minimizing the effects of food and solid waste in their respective countries, so the product does belong to the market as it provides one escape route from these problems for countries and goes the extra mile to creating employment and contributing largely to emerging economies.

In 2021 I was part of the HACKcellence Fest 2021 cohort of young talented entrepreneurs from Africa, India, and the Middle

East where about 650 entrepreneurs were initially part of the competition. My company in the ideation phase (Trash-earn) at the time
made it to the top 11 and eventually came in second place after virtual pitches were made in front of the international jury of
professionals, CEOs, and international audience from Middlesex University Dubai campus, TOSHIBA & KIOXIA, ISD global to list a
few. I aspire to bring about tangible change in the community where I grew up and expand to the whole of South Africa's most
underprivileged regions, eventually being able to implement my strategy of economic empowerment, growth, and development in the
whole of Africa. In my implementation of these desires I have for change, I have geared up the development stages of my startups with
which we are about to launch its Minimum Viable Product by February of this year, I have also participated in University Impact's
impact investing Bootcamp. This included learning financial, impact and market analysis techniques, conducting due diligence on a
real organization seeking funding from University Impact, and presenting funding recommendations to University Impact's Investment
Committee, also part of the Fishbowl Challenge 2022-2023. I think I'm inspired by my own background but nonetheless, I have the desire
to see a change in people's lives wherever possible mostly economic empowerment with the main focus on the African continent.

I am also a founder and CEO of a non-profit organization aimed at curbing the spread of generational poverty, youth drug and substance abuse, lack of education, and lack of proper economic structures in rural South Africa by recruiting students in Higher learning institutions that originate from these targeted communities.

My younger brother Asiphe Chiya who preconceived the idea (co-founder) is still finishing his high school studies but he is a passionate young fellow.

We haven't engaged any potential users at this point however we would be starting our research very soon.

Currently, there are technologically advanced bins with incredible features but what has been lacking is encouraging people to pick up their waste and make use of these bins, so the idea we used in our product of creating a vending machine-like bin was to elevate the existing products to a level where the user benefits instantly instead of long processes that are usually followed making the process faster and easier both for them and the companies collecting waste.

- Ensuring that every ordinary citizen around the city especially in underprivileged areas is able to live on a daily basis through vouchers

Selling or renting our units to waste management companies servicing these areas will allow many ordinary people to be able to make a living by picking waste since they will be able to buy with these vouchers from partnering retailers.

- Contributing to reducing waste in townships and slums, therefore, eliminating some widespread diseases

Some people living in these areas currently live by selling waste and are not employed, so many units distributed to these areas mean a lot of people will venture into waste picking therefore rapidly reducing littering around these areas.

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A technological garbage bin with an identification verification tool through a scanner, a mechanism that is able to detect the kind of waste and count quantity or weighs size of it, having a mass or quantity displayer for the person disposing of waste then issues a voucher as an incentive (all the explained process is automated) that can be used to buy groceries, used in property stores and buying prepaid electricity which can all be bought from our partnering retailers. The second item which caters to food waste will be also a technological bin with a barcode scanner, an expiry date verification tool, a mechanism that is able to detect the product and approve it, and a voucher dispenser giving out a  voucher that can be used on our partnering retailers items.

South Africa has a minimum of 300 recycling companies and an estimated figure of 200 000 number of waste pickers was recorded in 2020 not only these figures since the target customers for Trash Earn are also owners of restaurants, parks, malls, universities, colleges, program managers, presidents or CEOs with 5 to 500 employees. We plan to directly impact all the aforementioned consumers.

We have to first get a SA provisional patent which costs at least R19 950 ($1 155.54) so as to ensure our innovation is secured including a trademark costing R2 500($144.80) and an SA design registration costs R9 950($576.32). To assemble the whole prototype unit  (3D printed prototype, photorealistic posters, 3D CAD drawings) to further convince potential customers it will estimate to cost us R25 500 ($1 476.99). Currently, the biggest barrier we face to getting our project off the ground is financing.

Not partnering with any organization currently.

Since we don’t have any manufacturing capacity at the moment, we intend to design and model these bins which are manufactured by a third-party company. We then rent out our tech bins (on a monthly charging basis) or sell them completely to our clients.

We intend to launch in the second quarter of this year (provided we are able to raise funds in Q1) and do series A funding in the third quarter while also making sales through selling our products either through service contracts to the government or other entities specified as our target market . Further seeking partnership and expanding in Q1 of 2024.