Kudoti - A data platform for a connected waste ecosystem

The main problem we are solving is the lack of information and data on waste generation, collection and recycling. We work with waste management companies and other waste industry players to implement data collection mechanisms within their operations using Internet of Things waste sensors and the digitization of paper based data. 

We take this data to provide a very precise understanding of how these companies operate. With this information we can not only greatly reduce costs within those companies but we can also enable different companies to transact with each other through their data to fill in gaps where waste is not being optimally collected, sorted or recycled. 

Only 10% of global waste is currently recycled. Across Africa this number drops to 4%. However most attempts to solve this problem fail to address the number one barrier to increasing recycling rates, which is data. That is, almost no country in the world, particularly in the developing world, have any precise understanding of their waste problems because they do not have any precise data on what amounts and types of waste are generated and discarded. 

Without accurate measurements of where waste is coming from, what type of waste it is, and where it is going, it is close to impossible to design and build better waste systems. That is true in New York City as it is true in Johannesburg. 

This problem starts at the level of individual waste management companies, the majority of whom do not have rigorous data collection mechanisms and still rely on mostly paper based recording systems. 

The World Bank recognised in its 2018 “What a waste” report that without precise data on waste generation and collection, providing financing to solve waste issues is incredibly difficult as the lack of information creates a limited understanding of the specific problems that need to be resolved. 

We are currently building connected waste ecosystems that digitally connect waste management companies with other actors in the waste value chain in order to provide a more effective waste system that covers all areas of waste generation and collection. 

We work in emerging markets, meaning we must work with both formal and informal businesses to build adequate solutions. 

1) We are currently deploying data collection solutions within formal waste companies to help them understand their operations, reduce costs and also enable them to recycle more of their waste streams. 

2) At the same time, we are engaging with the informal sector through waste pickers who form the core of the waste collection system in South Africa, where we are currently based. 100,000 of them process around 80% of the country’s waste. 

By collecting data both within waste management companies and also at informal waste collection points, we plan to bridge the gap between the two and create the conditions for a more established collaboration between both sectors. This will then enable the creation of a fully effective and connected waste ecosystem.

Our solution combines hardware and software solutions into a single product. 

1) We deploy data collection systems, mainly Internet of Things waste sensors to collect waste volume data in real-time, both within waste management facilities and across waste sites within a geographical area. 

2) With this data, our software maps out ways to create targeted and much more efficient logistics, reducing costs for waste management companies. At the same time, this data informs our software on the geographic spread of waste generation and waste types, which we can then track through waste management companies to their end point. 

3) By collecting data on waste from where it is first collected, our technology solution allows us to understand how and where waste is being generated. We work with waste management companies to then analyse where waste is not being properly collected or sorted.

4) We then collected data to track the flow of this waste through the system as it is transported, further separated and aggregated and then sent to its final destination. With this information, we can identify cost saving and efficiency opportunities for our clients and also precisely measure how much recycled waste is sent to recyclers. Our focus is then to work with our clients to maximise how much waste is recycled.

5) Lastly, by enabling waste management companies to share their data with other waste industry actors, for example with a recycling company or a transportation company, we facilitate the collaboration between those entities to make sure that each can maximise their efficiency and save costs by recycling more. 

We are building our solution on top the latest technology developments in the waste space such as Internet of Things waste sensors that we are deploying with our partners. We are building innovative software on top to enable greater automation, efficiency and effectiveness at recycling for waste management companies. 

But that is not where we believe the innovation of our solutions lies. Rather, the innovation lies in our approach to waste management, seeing it not as a linear way of doing business. Instead, we want to leverage the technology innovations we are bringing to both the formal and informal waste management sectors to create inter-connectedness, taking a system-wide approach to solving waste management and recycling issues. 

It has become clear that no progress will be made by simply doing what we do now but better. Only by adopting more effective and innovative models can we hope to provide truly effective solutions. 

Concretely, we first gather data from within companies, large or small and help them run their businesses better. There is clear and obvious value there in terms of cost reduction. 

But the true transformation happens when we connect those different companies through their data to transact directly with each other.

This will provide clarity and transparency at all levels of the waste value chain, enabling waste companies to understand how to better run their businesses while helping them reach greater efficiency through working more effectively with other parts of the industry. 

Our solution utilises Internet of Things waste sensors to complement conventional data collection mechanisms already used by waste companies. 

These sensors provide real-time highly precise information on the volume and location of waste. This data feeds into our software, which provides optimisation measures, such as predictive logistics and route optimisation, to increase efficiency and decrease costs. 

We can also use this data to understand what materials are flowing through the waste stream and whether or not they are recycled to their full potential. We are developing further digital technology solutions, such as improved driver application and further data analytics mechanisms to increase the information we can obtain from our data.

Once we have greater amounts of data, we will work to integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence into our model to process the data to generate actionable outcomes. We are also looking into integrating blockchain smart contracts to empower companies to transact with each other through their data in a seamless fashion. 

At Kudoti, we like to say “We can’t solve what we don’t know.” 

This is very much true in the space of waste management. Without having a thorough understanding of processes and waste information, it will be incredibly difficult to improve our waste systems, which includes the collection, sorting, transporting and recycling of waste. 

Kudoti sets out to directly solve this problem by providing data collection tools to waste management industry players, using IoT sensors to monitor waste and provide real-time data. 

This data will serve as the starting point to fully understand current processes and then provide clear information on what is needed to improve the system to a point where recycling of resources are maximised. 

This will also serve as a starting point for product designers by providing them with clear data on what is not being recycled as well as recyclers by using the same data to work towards creating more solutions and infrastructure to deal with un-recycled waste. 

Our solution works seamlessly with any currently operating waste processes, and provides clear information and actionable data. This is not only of value to the companies themselves, hence allowing us to sell our product for profit, but will also serve as the foundation for the future connected waste ecosystems, delivering further value to all those involved. 

We are currently deploying our solution with our first partner for our pilot project. This will involve working with approximately 50 people directly, and many more indirectly.

Within a year, we plan to be integrated into the largest waste companies in the Johannesburg area, who manage and collect waste for at least 1 million people.

Within five years, we plan to deploy our systems across South Africa’s urban areas, facilitating and improving waste collection and recycling through our partners for at least 15 million people. We also plan to have expanded to at least two additional markets in Kenya and Rwanda.

Our goal from the start was to develop highly scalable solutions to improve recycling on a large scale. This approach has led us to focus on building solutions on top of existing infrastructure rather than creating new systems from scratch. 

Our technology is being developed with this scalability in mind. We plan to make our tech adoption seamless for our clients while maintaining a high level of flexibility in order to easily adapt to different markets. Our work in South Africa has enabled us to work in both the informal and formal sectors and given us an understanding of what is needed to adapt to markets that are more formal or more informal.

Our goal is to rapidly scale internationally. Within two years, we would like to expand our presence to other markets in East Africa. Within five years, we want to expand to Southeast Asia. 

One challenge is the tech literacy and conventional mindset of our clients. Innovation in the waste management space has remained very static in the past few years and few managers of companies and employees are well versed in technology and its impact on business. This creates a distrust of technology and of its costs, sometimes preventing some of our clients from seeing the true long-term value of our products.

Similarly, working in a country like South Africa means that we must work with the informal waste sector if we are to succeed at increasing recycling in the country. This comes with additional challenges, such as many informal pickers not having smart phones, or phones at all. Neither do they have bank accounts or even access to digital forms of money. In our mission to create better waste ecosystems, the fact that a large part of that ecosystem is very disconnected from any formal system is a major challenge.

When it comes to selling and deploying our technology and platform within established waste companies, we focus not on the technological elements of our solution, but on the real value that it provides to companies in terms of cost reduction and efficiency. We also make adoption extremely easy, both technically in terms of deployment, installation and utilisation but also from an employee perspective through our technology support and assistance.

For working with different segments of the waste industry, such as the informal sector, we adapt to the low-tech environment by developing flexible solutions adapted to the context of their use. 

For example, we are thinking about how we can develop a platform system for standard feature phone using USSD technology to create a connection using the cheapest form of technology available. We also are looking to deploy existing low cost digital money solutions while we design improved and more scalable solutions using blockchain based products.

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We have two full-time members and three part time members on the team currently.

Our team is made up of a very diverse set of members, each bringing different expertise and perspectives to enable us to creatively solve the challenges we are addressing.

Our CEO  and cofounder grew up in Europe and the US but has lived in many countries worldwide. His interest in the problem of recycling began when he lived in Cambodia and witnessed the complete lack of waste management structures there, a situation that is common across most of Southeast Asia. From there he spent several years research and exploring ways of building better waste systems, sometimes from scratch in places like emerging markets.

The other cofounder of Kudoti is from South Africa and has been recognised nationally for his entrepreneurship work in the recycling space. Much of his upbringing was in Johannesburg’s townships, where he was exposed to the work and lives of the members of the informal waste sector there. His focus has been to bring those informal workers into a more formal system so that they could benefit from stronger social rights while still providing a benefit to society through waste management activities.

In addition, Kudoti’s tech development team is made up of two of the brightest coding talent in the country, receiving many recognitions and winning several competitions at a young age. They bring significant technology know-how to formulate Kudoti’s product offering in the most effective way possible.

We are currently in partnership with Sqwidnet, a South African IoT connectivity company. Our partnership involves collaborating to develop IoT based solutions for the Sqwidnet client base as well as working together to further build Kudoti's IoT solutions.

Our principal business model involves selling our platform as a service, where clients pay monthly for access to our data analytics and logistics optimisation software. We also re-sell data collecting hardware in the form of Internet of Things waste sensors for a once-off fee.

Our main clients are waste management companies who use our IoT hardware to collect data on the waste they collect. They then pay a monthly fee to use our software platform, which gives them access to targeted route optimisation, using the IoT sensors to target only the locations that are full, reducing their logistics costs. Further software add-ons such as data analytics modules will be available for higher monthly costs.

For phase 2, once we have deployed our platform within several waste management companies, we plan to further develop our business model by enabling our clients to use their data to transact with other waste companies. For example enabling a recycling company to purchase a specific volume of waste from a waste management company through an exchange of data on the waste company’s waste stream. These connections will be integrated into our business model through a per-use fee for each transaction.

We expect to be cash positive within the first six months of full operation through monthly revenue generated from our platform with at least three waste management clients.

We are currently raising seed-funding to enable us to invest in our company and maintain our growth over that six month period. 

We want to gain two things from Solve. First, we want to access more partnership opportunities either within the Solve and MIT networks or more broadly, partnerships that would emerge from the exposure we would get through becoming a part of the Solve program.

We are also looking to gain more technical expertise to help us continue to solve the challenges that we face in terms of implementation and development, particularly in the data sciences and AI fields. We are looking especially for experienced mentors to provide guidance as we look to scale and grow our operation. 

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We are looking for partners who currently work with potential clients for our product. In particular, we’d be interested partner with local governments and city governments to work with them, through their corporate waste partners, to provide our platform across specific geographic areas.

We would also be interested to partner with large consumer brands, such as Coca Cola, Pepsi or Unilever, to work with them as they look to make their products more sustainable. Our goal would be to provide them with further solutions to help them make more of their products from recycled materials, either directly or through their existing partnerships. 

Our main focus is to use data to provide detailed insights and solutions to improve recycling and waste systems. Artificial Intelligence will play a significant role in helping us process data and automate insight generation from that data. AI offers the opportunity to exponentially increase the level of detail and efficiency involved in operating waste operations. As we grow, gathering more data across more companies and across larger and larger areas, AI will be a source of enormous value when working to maximize the use of that data.

With the AI Innovation Prize, we will be able to dedicate the adequate resources to growing our data team and bringing in the talent and expertise needed to build a world-class AI business. This is in turn will enable us to provide the transformational chance that is needed to build a better way to handle our waste. 

More than anything else, the circular economy depends on data. Without data, no product or service will be able to be truly circular at a scale that makes it truly impactful. We are currently developing the data mechanisms that will enable our waste systems to understand how circular they really are and identify ways to maximize that circularity.

However, as we build our products, we need to continue investing in our development and our team. We currently looking to grow our team and need to bring in some very talented leaders when it comes to technology and software development as well as waste industry experts who will lead the efforts to work alongside waste management and recycling companies around the world. In order to build better solutions, we need to invest early in our development, and the GM Prize on the Circular Economy would play a key part in making sure that we can maximize our transformational potential from an early stage.

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