Segregate With Ease (SWE)

Problem:

Solid waste management is a critical yet often overlooked sector of the Ghanaian community. 90% of this waste according to the Ministry of Sanitation are sent to the landfilled sites.

Solution:

We provide a mobile app where users can request for waste pickup,reporting missed pickups and also make payment for their monthly waste bills. This ensures all their waste material especially plastics are collected and recycled and enough data on waste generation is provided for policy making. 

How are we changing the world:

Our model ensures reliability,convenient and recyclable waste materials are converted into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, partly supplement the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce water pollution from landfilling by reducing the need for “conventional” waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Our aim is to help improve the environment and slow down climate change using our mobile technology.

Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding and affecting economic development such as through diminished tourism. This materials which are being wasted can be recycled to produce other product but are instead thrown into water bodies or burned which is a major factor causing climate change. According to the World Bank published a report on waste “What a Waste 2.0 Report”, annual global waste production will increase by 70% if the current conditions persist. The Worldwatch Institute also reports that landfills are overflowing and the costs of disposing of sewage and garbage is rising. City leaders can relieve over extended municipal budgets, prevent the contamination of drinking water, and help slow down climate change by recycling garbage.

An average Ghanaian produces 0.74kg tons of waste every day and over 21 million ones of waste are generated annually but only 11% of this waste are collected and recycled according to the World Bank reports.  Our Target groups are organizations, corporate bodies, schools and shopping centers. We plan to work with the rural woman who walks for distance to collect plastic materials and then sell to take care of their families. We plan to provide them with tricycles and teach them how to ride, making it easier to access a large number of plastic waste in turn increasing the money they earn each day.

We provide a mobile app which allows users  request for waste pickup,reporting missed pickups,make payment for their monthly waste bills.With the app,users can effectively manage their waste collection to ensure all waste material especially plastics are collected and recycled. Users can also learn more about recycling on the platform. Knowing how difficult it can be for many schools and other organizations to develop their own recycling programs, we help create a recycling program with them.

Mockup of the app can be found on https://xd.adobe.com/view/ff3e1c5c-3bb2-40b5-55f3-eeab0da5f57f-890f/?fullscreen

With our tech-driven solution, individuals can now effectively manage their waste through requesting for pickup,reporting missed pickups and also make payment for their monthly waste bills. With AI technology we are able analyse the behavioral patterns to provide a specific content about recycling for schools and individuals making what to recycle and what to trash easy and accessible.

Our platform is a mobile app that intends to solve the issue of poor waste management, especially with the issue of waste segregation. Technology makes us able to scale to a larger number of people. We are developing an AI to analyses how individuals request for pickup,amount of waste generated every month and the specific type of waste they generate. The system would learn the behavioural patterns of individuals to help create a better curriculum for schools and organisation on recycling.

Waste management in Ghana and other Africa countries are not digitized which makes it difficult to cover the majority of homes. Making decisions on waste collection has been very difficult over the years because there is also not enough data. Our platform makes it easier to reach a large number of individuals who don’t have access to waste collection and also collect enough data to help organisations make  decisions on waste improvement.

Currently we are serving 365 homes and 1 school and hope to scale it up to over 1000 homes and 200 schools in a year time.In 5 years time we plan on serving over 1000000 homes, 500000 schools and 700000 organisations in both Ghana and other African countries.  

The fundamental objective in years coming is to achieve a common vision to contribute to waste recycling, environmental improvement, and renewable energy, employment generation for the urban poor and sustainable development

Barriers that currently exist between our success line is being able to acquire enough trucks for operations.Getting government approvals to work in the public schools.Technical support for the team. In order to scale-up and fulfill our dream, we will require a significant capital investment.

For now we would be bootstrapping to support the venture until we get investors and other partnerships. We would also keep writing proposals to the local government as time goes own.

3 full time workers.

1. Emmanuel  Danso Yaw - Business development, web developer. 
2. Sayon Coulibaly - Software engineer 
3. Sherif Inusah - Finance and banking 

Currently we are in an incubation program organised by Innohub which is focused on business development and making one investor ready. This training would end on the 14th of August,2019.

For individuals, companies and organizations struggling with the high costs and inflexibility associated with waste disposal, we offers sustainable and innovative waste management solutions. We generate revenue from the waste collection and sales of recyclable plastic.

Currently we are  bootstrapping to support the venture until we get investors and other partnerships. We would be looking for investment capital and grants to be able to scale up. For now we would be reinvesting the money we get from the service we provide.

We are happy to be part of a greater network of individuals that work towards attaining a better world through an organization such as Solve’s. Becoming a member of Solve’s network, we would be able to learn from other members and meet partners within and outside our country. We are looking to scale to other African countries and we could see that becoming a reality with the help of solve. With Solve we would not only get financial support but technical resources which would make the solution stand the test of time.

We like to work with the United Nations Environment Programme, Ministry of Sanitation, Climate focus organisations and Coca Cola.

When we are selected for this award, we would use the grant to develop data modules that would help understand the behavioural patterns and waste cycle of individual for better policy and decision making on waste in the African continent.