Trash to Cash

An ecological solution for waste collection in Madagascar by bicycle cart with a reward for the sorted waste from the users. To enroll people to sort waste.

Trahs to Cash is a set of services available through a mobile application and bot messenger. We offer an eco-friendly waste collection solution with user rewards to teach people that sorting and recycling waste is important. The collection of waste is done at the users with bike carts. The target users are households and companies.

How does it work? First, the user sorts his waste into 5 categories: plastic, paper, metal, glass, biodegradable. Then he requests a collection with the mobile app. Secondly, the trahs to cash collector comes by bike cart to collect, weigh and register the waste, the remuneration is done automatically by mobile banking to the user. Thirdly, the waste is stored according to its type in warehouses. Thirdly, the sales department is responsible for finding customers to sell the resources. Fifth and finally, the funds will be used to pay the users and collectors.

The technologies used are : MIT app inventor, firebase, manychat.

Madagascar is buried under a mountain of waste, according to a study conducted by Naldeo in Antananarivo in 2018, 1890 tons of waste are produced daily and only 48% of this garbage is collected with the existing trahs collection services (SAMVA). But only 19% is sorted and recycled properly. This problem affects an entire country, it occurs in all major cities of Madagascar affecting more than 1.275 million people. Causing all kinds of diseases such as plague and diarrhea. According to a study conducted by WHO in 2017, diarrhea is killing 525,000 children in Madagascar every year.This ecological disaster is destroying the environment and the living beings around. The bad habit of the people to throw their waste everywhere contributes considerably to this problem, but the major cause is the lack of efficient solution.

Trash to cash is aimed at households and businesses in Madagascar. Our solution will impact the lives of countless people living in areas impacted by the existence of trash, such as gutters, by improving their living conditions. As well as many others who are unemployed and have no diploma, Trash to Cash will offer them work that does not require a diploma, we aim to create more than 100 jobs in Antananarivo and more than 500 jobs in the greater area. Industries that need raw materials will also benefit because our goal is to transform and reuse precious resources. Many recycling industries of plastics, paper, glass, biodegradable and metals exist in Madagascar. To take only the example of Adonis Madagascar, biogas madagascar, ... The Malagasy without any exception, the recycling companies and the small businesses will all benefit from this solution.

Trash to cash involved a waste collector from SAMVA (the current waste collection company in Madagascar) in the development of the user interface of the mobile application for collectors. As well as 2 mothers for the design of the user interface of the mobile application for the users. After their participation, the application was tested by two other mothers, and they were satisfied by the simplicity and the Malagasy language of the application. The development of the application which was done on MIT app inventor was done in 3 months because of all the modifications to guarantee the simplicity and the autonomy of the application, so that the application is usable by the common Malagasy.

Trash to cash solves the unmet need for waste that is not collected and treated and leads to environmental degradation and alteration of the living conditions of the people around resulting in various deadly but preventable diseases.

Until now, the trash to cash team has completed the development of the mobile application in two languages, Malagasy and French. The team is currently working on the bot messenger and the determination of the price of waste sorted in the Malagasy market, thus allowing to determine the viability of the solution. After different research the trash to cash team has found several potential partners like Biogaz madagascar (BAM), Adonis, Start, ...

Our solution depends on the intelligent management of the collectors in their journey, for this we use MIT app inventor as an interface to assign different tasks to the collectors. Moreover, because of the huge amount of data to be processed, we have developed a program that sorts the data according to regions and assigns them to different collectors according to their availability and location.

Trash to Cash plans to serve over 1.275 million people, plus the 100 workers that will be hired in the year 2023.

Our goals for 2023 are: first, to employ more than 100 people from disadvantaged areas. Second, to collect 15 tons of waste per day. Lastly, to reach a market of 38000 dollars in the resale of essential raw materials.

One specific and measurable metric that our team uses is the number of families using the application. We can monitor this through the database. When the number of users exceeds 500,000 and the number of waste collected per day reaches 5 tons, we can conclude that the objectives have been reached at 70%. These changes can tell us that there is 5 tons less waste on the streets, which is a very good indicator.

The obstacles that currently prevent us from reaching your goals next year are: first, the lack of start-up funds, as we need to recruit waste collectors and purchase bicycles and carts as well as equipment for the collectors. Secondly, the lack of visibility to the Malagasy people. And finally, the storage warehouses, although we already have 2 warehouses in Antananarivo, according to our calculations we need 8 more.

For the moment, the trash to cash team is composed of two members very active in their tasks, but additional members are on the way. The team leader, Onitina, is a computer science student of 18 years old and the president of a non-profit association working in girls' education (Flamingo girls for change), she has an innate ability to lead people. Thanks to her many experiences in communication, she allows Trash to Cash to have a good relationship with the clients and government officials. The head of the communication and design department, Radolaza Leondaris is a student in network engineering at the Polytechnic University of Antananarivo. Being a teacher at the age of 19, and having designed several sites implementing huge amounts of data, he is specialized in data management. He designed the management system and the data security of the Trash to Cash application. 

For the moment Trash to Cash has no unofficial partners, but when we are ready for the test, we will work with Adonis, Biogaz Madagascar, Kopakelatra, softy doux, Star, ..... Our partners will allow us to give a second life to sorted waste and generate enough funds to expand the activities.

Trash to Cash is a solution led by RAHARIMALALA Onitina Iavotriniaina a young woman of 18 with a great sense of leadership. Indeed she is also the president of Flamingo girls an association that operates in the social. We believe that our solution qualifies for the HP Girls Save the World Prize because, firstly, our solution addresses an existing problem impacting millions of lives and we put an end to it in a sustainable and eco-friendly way. Secondly, our solution has been developed and shaped with the help of many people who face the problem every day. Recently our solution has been tested by two mothers and the prototype has met their expectations. Finally, our solution will create hundreds of full time jobs for the Malagasy people.