Wastezon

Wastezon is a materials traceability platform that assists consumers to exchange quality vetted electronic materials with manufacturers and recyclers.

While over 50 million tons of e-waste are annually generated globally, the mountain of e-waste problem presents a great opportunity to tap into urban mining. Only less than 15% of e-waste generated globally is properly recycled or repurposed. According to UNEP, greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary mineral and metal production were equivalent to approximately 10% of the total global emissions. If we continue to operate in a linear economy, we are risking facing resource depletion while continuously creating landfills that pollute our environment. 

In addition, the linear system in the electronic industry is depriving low and middle-income digital access opportunities, as affordability and quality are not guaranteed in an untransparent and unconnected second-hand electronic value chain. Currently, 80% of African households don’t have access to household computers and 54% don’t have access to smartphones. Both economical and environmental challenges in the electronic industry present us with an opportunity to rethink innovative systems that creates value for both people and the planet.

Through the following 2 integrated digital products, Wastezon empowers manufacturers and consumers with real-time mineralogical traceability to inform and enable efficient electronic materials reusing, remanufacturing and recycling: 

1. Wastezon 2.0: A mobile app that provides household and institutional consumers with reselling and buying security and quality-vetted second-hand electronics.

2. WastezonX: A Machine Learning backed web app, that provides manufacturers and recyclers with traceability and tracking infrastructures for efficient materials returnability, buy-back and reverse supply chain management.

Our product creates the following innovative value offerings for consumers, manufacturers and recyclers: 

• Materials Traceability: Leveraging mineralogical laser scan technology, we assist users to track the provenance change of electronic materials. 

• Valorization Potential detection: with real-time data on materials provenance changes, Wastezon provides automated and tailored reuse, repurposing and recycling potentials of the specified materials. 

• Matchmaking: We create market interlinkages between consumers, manufacturers and recyclers by leveraging real-time materiality and valorization data. 

• Reverse Logistics: we efficiently provide automated reverse logistics planning for all transacted materials considering transboundary movement principles and cost-tailored advantages.

Households and Institutional Consumers: Through Wastezon 2.0, we assist households to resell or buy security and quality-vetted second-hand electronics. With affordable quality-proven second-hand electronics, low and middle-income households can close the digital divide and access economic opportunities the digital world can offer. On Wastezon 2.0, we also assist institutional consumers in reselling their used electronics, diverting them from going to landfills while also achieving their carbon net-zero targets. 

Manufacturers and Recyclers: Through WastezonX, we enable manufacturers to track electronic materials in the post-consumerism value chain. They can get real-time data on the materiality of electronic products, and detect provenance changes as well as get tailored valorization recommendations ranging from reusing, repurposing and remanufacturing. They get matched with consumers and acquire back such materials through an effective and efficient reverse logistics system. With WastezonX, manufacturers and recyclers are positioned to tap into urban mining, get quality vetted secondary raw materials, reduce their dependency on virgin materials and achieve their carbon net-zero targets. 

Wastezon has a passionate and experienced team, hailing from diverse backgrounds; Software engineering, Materials Science, Business Development and Finance. We are mission-driven and fired up for creating a waste-free world. We founded wastezon with inspiration from the tragic situation of our best friend who survived a garbage landslide accident. We wake up every day energized to make a world where materials are traced and brought back into the economy rather than sent up in landfills. 

We are a team of 17 professionals (11 full-time employees and 6 part-time fellows). Our team has been involved in several scientific research and policy-making projects in urban mining and circular economy which makes us well-positioned to leverage our industry experience to scale Wastezon. For instance, some of us assisted the EU Commission DG Environment in developing EU-Africa Circular Economy Cooperation, while others have in the past worked on scientific ML models in the metallurgy industry. Some worked on technological aspects of valorizing waste materialswhile others have previous experience in running startups. 

Besides such industry experience, we are part of several international professional networks such as the Global Waste Cleaning Network, African Circular Economy Network and AI For Good Foundation’s Council for Good. Such networks expose us to industry trends and link us to several expertise-related resources that assist us to scale Wastezon. 

We engage the community through the following approaches: 

Human-Centred Design: each year, we carry out 2 research projects leveraging focus groups and one-on-one interviews to explore the gaps in our solutions while also identifying the users’ needs. Such insights inform product and business model iterations we do annual basis. 

Monitoring and Evaluation: We monitor and document the impact our solution is creating in the community. Such metrics allow us to not only explore potential room for growth but also allow us to rejoice and celebrate with our communities for the transformational impact recorded. 

Sales Agents Network: We have selected top users from several geographical locations who assist in onboarding users in their communities and as well as help us to manage the community of our users in specific locations. So far we have a network of over 10 sales agents around Kigali and other provinces of Rwanda.

Our product creates the following innovative value offerings for consumers, manufacturers and recyclers: 

• Materials Traceability: Leveraging mineralogical laser scan technology, we assist users to track the provenance change of electronic materials. 

• Valorization Potential Detection: with real-time data on provenance, Wastezon provides automated and tailored reuse, repurposing and recycling potentials of the specified materials. 

• Matchmaking: We create market interlinkages between consumers, manufacturers and recyclers by leveraging real-time materiality and valorization data. 

• Reverse Logistics: we efficiently provide automated reverse logistics planning for all transacted materials considering transboundary movement principles and cost-tailored advantages.

We are building multiple ML models to improve the capability of our mineralogical laser scan technology hence allowing consumers to efficiently vet second-hand electronics before purchasing them. It will also allow us to improve materials traceability on the manufacturers' end. Our innovation is positioned to decarbonize the manufacturing industry by reducing the number of emissions that are released by e-waste substances in landfills release and in virgin mining activities. By providing the electronics and scraps reuse, remanufacturing, and repairing services, there is a big opportunity of enabling resource extraction while creating a more circular urban mining system. 

As we continue to leverage Machine Learning-powered solutions to assist consumers, manufacturers and recyclers to transact second-hand electronics and e-waste materials, we aim to achieve the following milestones in the next 18 months. 

• User-base growth: we aim to grow our user base from 3000 consumers to over10000 consumers on our platforms. We also aim to grow the manufacturer and recycler user base from 122 to at least 300 globally distributed manufacturers.
• Sales Growth; The growth of the user base will result in the increase of electronic materials from 680 tons to over 2000 tons. Such transactions will earn over a projected annual revenue of at least 85% while also diverting an equivalent of over 31000 tons of carbon emissions. 
• Talent Retention & Growth: We have launched the first cohort of 5 months of‘ Resourceful fellowship’, an early entry career program that recruits 5 young women professionals to immerse in Wastezon’s operations. We are planning to have 3 cohorts, empowering 20 fellows while also building a talent pipeline for future hires. 
• Partnerships & Collaborations: We aim to create at least 5 potential partnerships with continental and global associations of manufacturers to tap into their networks for access to clients and market knowledge. 
• Regional Expansion: We are eyeing expansion opportunities in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South African Markets. We are planning to conduct market research between January and March 2023, and start launch activities based on the outcome of the market research. 
• Fundraising & Investment: We are targeting to raise a 1 Million USD seed round investment with 80% of it as equity and the rest 20% from grants. Ideally, we will be targeting impact investors in the climate and sustainability industries.

Wastezon products are embedded with mineralogical laser scan technology that is powered by a combination of AI and Machine learning technologies. With mineralogical laser scan technology, we are able to assist consumers and manufacturers to trace materials, obtain real-time data, perform matchmaking and organise the reverse logistics for the acquired materials.

We currently serve over 3000 household and institutional consumers and intend to grow our user base to over 10000 consumers in the next 18 months. We also aim to grow the manufacturer and recycler user base from 122 to at least 300 globally distributed manufacturers. So far over 3000 Rwandan consumers have transacted over 680 tons of waste materials with over 50 local and international manufacturers and recyclers. Such waste materials diverted an equivalent of more than 5126.42 metric tons of avoided carbon emissions. 

Over 1200 households have been able to close down the digital divide by acquiring cost-friendly quality vetted computers from manufacturers or recyclers that are active on the Wastezon app. We triggered incentive-driven consumption behaviour change as over 2000 consumers earned an average of over 35 USD on waste materials that could have ended up in the landfill. 

Lack of engineering and materials-science talents: Regionally, it's challenging to secure talented individuals that can join our engineering team.  We have started to develop a global recruitment strategy to source great talents, however, we have also started to create and train a pipeline of interns that might be talented for our future use. 

Limited access to Venture Capitalists (VCs) networks: VCs networks are quite limited in Africa and this causes delays in closing rounds.  We have started to leverage an external network to get introductory calls. We are also leveraging other financial instruments such as green bonds and carbon credits to finance our operations.

Global Warming Mitigation Project (GWMP): They assist us in our fundraising activities as well as talent sourcing through their constellation fellowship program. 

We are a Family Foundation (WAFF): They support our entry-level career program; a Resourceful fellowship which provides us access to tech talents. 

We have created and successfully proven the  following revenue streams: 

Commission Fee (B2C): We charge a 10% commission on each transaction done by consumers on the platform. This can be an up-front charge or a post-sale charge depending on the preferences of the users. So far a commission typically ranges on the average of 5-50 USD. 

The subscription fee (B2B): We charge a monthly 50-250 USD subscription fee to manufacturers and recyclers which varies depending on the materials quantity and logistical plans they need to have.

Our financial sustainability relies on the following approaches: 

Revenue growth: We aim to diversify our market segments and especially grow our subscription models and their targeted manufacturers' consumer base. We aim to diversify income by also launching other materials traceability infrastructures in other waste streams. 

Investment: To catalyze our growth, we tap into multiple sources of investment (either equity or debt) to secure the resources and talents needed to fuel our growth.