Eco-friendly on-site PPE incinerator

As of 10:43 am CEST, 17 June 2020, there have been 8,043,487 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 439,487 deaths globally,  in Africa we have 259,111 cases and  7,016 deaths and in Kenya 4,044 cases with 107 deaths, according to WHO, This has lead to many countries effect lock down measures causing a negative economic effect. There is a large amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) disposed in open dumpsites and streets and with on-site incineration, no used PPE will end up in the environment infection others. We have innovated a PPE incinerator which is able to incinerate on-sit reducing the materials to sterile ash which can be disposed of safely. The incinerators are in 2 sizes, a domestic size for home care settings to a bigger size for institution. This solution can be replicated globally because the problem is global.

WHO has reported 8,043,487 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 439,487 deaths globally,  in Africa 259,111 cases and  7,016 deaths and in Kenya 4,044 cases with 107 deaths. With the spread and effect of COVID-19 globally, There has been the fear of the disease spreading even faster. The economies of many Nations have been affected. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2020), annual global GDP growth is projected to drop to 2.4% in 2020, with growth possibly even being negative in the first quarter of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.The adverse impact on finance markets, disruption of global supply chains, tourism sector and other sectors of the economy will have had an adverse effect on the Kenyan economy and those of other African countries. Our PPE incinerators reduce the spread of COVID-19 because incineration is done at source. Double handling of these hazardous materials is averted and less people get infected because the environment is kept safe.

Our PPE incinerator which is installed at the users premises incinerates on-site is able to incinerate reducing the materials to sterile ash which can be disposed of safely. It uses web based technology making the machines incinerate after a number of drops or after a certain weight is achieved depending on the customer choice. When we lease the incinerators, the customer has to pay through mobile money and the money is directed to our bank account, then we get an alert, only then will the machine can start burning. Sometimes the customer may decide to pay for several burns. In this case the machine will do the incineration at the designated time and day. When the number of burns are over, it stops incineration.

This solution serves those doing home care for COVID-19 cases, quarantine centres and hospitals with COVID-19. It helps incinerate used PPE which could otherwise infect handlers of the waste or end up in the environment infesting other people. We recently did our first demonstration in a hospital which houses accident victims with spinal injury. They have since requested us to make the incinerator burn used adult diapers. We are currently working to offer that service. This has also had us improve our capacity of the machine to not only burn used PPEs but other products.  The representative of National Spinal Injury told us that they use collection service by waste handlers and that the service was expensive and they were not sure where the waste collected ends up. With our machine which is a one off cost they will save money and prevent hazardous waste ending up in the environment.

 COVID-19  pandemic is a global problem affecting us all. Many countries have implemented lock downs in order to reduce the disease which is known to overwhelm health facilities. Some of the new cases are as a result of used PPEs which are disposed of in the environment. Masks are in streets, open dumpsites and domestic bins which are later handled by other persons. Our on-site Eco-friendly  PPE incinerators installed in homes, quarantine centres and hospitals with COVID-19 cases. Our incinerators help reduce the spread of this disease. This in turn  saves lives and keeps the care givers a healthier environment.

Our PPE incinerator is innovative because it is compact in size suitable for home washrooms, it incinerates on-site meaning that there is no double handling, it is efficient reducing the materials to sterile ash for safe disposal. This is unlike the huge hospital incinerators which homes and small hospital settings cannot afford.

In the design of this machine, we have utilised existing technology but modelled it such that it is able to work for us. The biggest strength of this machine is its ability to incinerate PPE's so that it can be disposed off as sterile ash. Also the fact that it has been able to be modelled to use modern technology such as the internet and be connected online for better monitoring and running of the machine.

Many designers today have seen the benefits and ease of use of their machines when they are able to go online. This is because the internet gives a platform for easier control and monitoring of devices. Our machine also utilises the same in that it is able to be monitored and controlled remotely. This allows us to lease this machine to individuals, and the machine will give a log on how the machine is being used and at what time. Users can also monitor the machines that they acquire from us to get information regarding the machine. This incinerator has also be able to successfully incinerate PPE's thus making it useful in the complete destruction of these products after use. This helps reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

Used PPE's in response to COVID-19 could lead to adverse environmental problems if they are not disposed of correctly. Currently most COVID-19 isolation facilities lack the capacity to destroy the used PPEs and this can be source of further infection. This is the reason that we have put our best foot forward and aided in the design of a disposal system for these products so as to help curb the spread of this disease. We believe that this machine will impact society in a very big way because there are very limited solutions present which aid in disposal of the used PPE'S. From testing the machine with one potential customer,  we are satisfied with its efficiency and are ready to start further piloting. 

My solution is a working prototype which is being piloted with one hospital with a capacity of 256 persons. We expect to serve close to one Million users within the year. In the next 5 years we will have more than 10 million people because we will have scaled to the neighbouring Eastern Africa Countries.

In the next 6 months, we expect to finish piloting with several users. In 1 year will have covered the Kenyan market and in 5 years we will be in the East African countries. these estimations are based on the capacity we currently have. With more resources we could do better because this will mean that we will commercialise faster, get more sales and marketing staff in all the Kenyan regions and build other organisational capacity.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have started experiencing slow purchasing processes of machine parts form India which is on partial lock down. This has made us purchase these parts locally which is more costly. We hope the situation will change soon before the local supplies are depleted. We expect to get competition from other players within the next 5 years and this is the reason we want to move to market faster to counter this challenge

We have started purchasing machine parts locally to counter the Indian source problem. Although these parts are more costly, we expect to keep our prices competitive to be able to finance commercialisation and fast move to the market. This will help us to take the first mover advantage.

We have 8 full-time staff and take 4 to 5 part-time staff depending on the order at hand.

We contract 1 organisation for computer Programming because we currently cannot afford a programmer. This is done on a need basis.

In our team, The Founder and CEO has over 32 years running a company, she holds a bachelors degree in Entrepreneurship and a Masters degree(MBA) in Strategic Management. The Co-founder has 30 years experience in the banking industry and has joined the company full-time in the last 5 years. He holds a bachelor degree in Entrepreneurship and is finalising his Masters degree in Entrepreneurship. We have a Mechanical engineer and a Electrical Engineer who works part-time. Our Sales and Marketing manager has 9 years experience. Production manager has 5 years experience and a IT specialist with 3 years experience. 

We are currently partnering with UNFPA (United Fund For Population), Graca Machel, Safaricom, Royal Academy of Engineering. UNFPA and Graca Machel have funded our sanitary pads incinerator with $10,000, We are partnering with Safaricom on the mobile money payment system and are partnering in designing a smart sanitary pad vending machine which uses mobile money. Royal academy of Engineering is training use on better management of our company and they recently funded us with 5,000 GBP for our PPE incinerator.

We sell our incinerators to other businesses,(B2B). The customer segment include, learning institutions, NGOs operating the refugee camps and other NGOs who donate to the needy, Government agencies dealing with the COVID_19 pandemic, County governments, Hospitals and clinics. What we offer our clients is peace of mind knowing that the used PPEs are incinerated on site averting further infection, efficiency, dignity and healthier  end-users and affordability of the incinerator. 

We are looking for funding to purchase machinery to do in-house fabrication of our machines. We are sourcing this service and have experienced issues like poor work done, delayed deliveries and high costs of the whole process. Once we have the machinery in place we will fund the operations from sales proceeds.

We are applying for Solve so that we can get funding for further piloting of the PPE incinerator, Purchase machinery to do in-house fabrication of our machines and marketing strategy to go to market first to take advantage of first-mover advantage

Our partnership with UNFPA, Graca Machel was on grant funding. We are partnering with Safaricom to come up with a new vending machine for sanitary pads which uses mobile money platform. Our partnership with Royal Academy of Engineering is on training and grant funding

I would like to get more research materials and technical support on incineration of solid waste as well as networks to scale up the innovation in other countries.

We are qualified for this price because of the impact our solution has. Apart from PPE incinerators, we have incinerators for used sanitary which gives women and girls dignity when they are disposing their menstrual waste.This helps keep girls in school because girl schools do not have to send the girls home when the pit latrines they use for disposal get flooded during rainy season. The smart vending machines give ease of access of sanitary pads anytime anywhere while also helping donors account for donated sanitary pads.  Our PPE incinerator on the other hand helps reduce the spread of COVID-19 through secondary infection. This contributes in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

We will continue making innovative solutions which benefit the poor marginalise communities and those we left behind. As much as our solutions geared towards menstrual hygiene, we have realised that we can also contribute in other ways which impact the society negatively.