Rootcycle

Rootcycle is a project that connects conscious consumers to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfills. This is possible by making the raw material return to the technical cycle through the engagement of cooperatives in Brazil, cities of São Paulo, Jacareí and Nova Odessa. Through this new cycle, a new material is created, the post consumer resin. The development of post consumer resin has reliability ensured and verified by blockchain technology.  It tracks all steps along the production chain, from collection of waste, sourcing and productions, maintaining the waste that would usualy  go to the landfill.

Brazil has a huge environmental problem, with billions tons of waste being poorly managed, leading to the proliferation of diseases, chemical and biological risks. Only 25,8 % of all recycled waste is in fact inserted in production chain. A large amount of waste is not sorted, generating loss of resources and energy.

As a result, socio-environmental problems, such as open-air waste disposal are visible throughout cities. Unenployed and low income individuals find a way to survive, collecting and selling recycled material from these landfills, posing great risk to their health. The Brazilian economy is still linear, requiring an systematic change in its waste disposal model.

Even in cooperatives, workers do not have adequate working conditions, being able to find slave conditions and child labor, because there is no inspection and adaptation of good norms in this environment. Our proposed solution is to increase and boost the amount of waste that would be discarded in cooperatives, screened, in order to decrease waste in the environment and implement adjustments in the workplace so that employees of cooperatives you encased good working conditions, ensuring quality of life and consequently resulting in better results in obtaining raw material after consumption.

We focus the general population, specially the poorest (people with jobs that has no access to labor legislation security and quality of life); in general those people accept this kind of conditions to support their homes and families.

Beyond that, we promote initiatives for work improvements and quality of life, working directly with cooperatives to understand their needs and to implement improvements targeting environmental and social impacts. 

Rootcycle is a business model that focus the appreciation of waste to obtain post consumer raw material, connecting conscious consumers and retail companies.

To achieve this target, we set delivery and collection points in local stores of our retail parteners; next, the sorted waste materials are collected by five cooperatives distributed in São Paulo, Jacareí and Nova Odessa.

To track and ensure the safety of this project, we use Blockchain technology, so we can have accesse to reliable information from the tracking waste that can be destined to the research and innovation lab, where we can obtain the final product: post consumer resin, by reintroducing this development flow if production process, replacing the need for the use of virgin raw materials.

In this project, we engaged in a partnership with five cooperatives that collect the waste at the voluntary collection points and separate them with their different material specifications, according to the project.

After separation, the dry materials are sent to the Boomera laboratory for the research team to develop the residue in resin after consumption, and then the resin is reinserted into the system, presenting existing alternatives to the post consumer waste, valuing the whole with the circular economy.

For separation with quality and greater quantity of materials, we have also mapped and administered in online platform, ensuring greater security and productivity, including the cooperative, who must have a more dignified work, with greater productivity and quality of life, without exploitation of work slave and child.

- Reinsert raw material, reducing the use of virgin raw material with natural resources, where the final applications do not present differences;

- Correct destination and add value for materials such as PP, HDPE and LDPE, preventing their inappropriate disposal in the environment;

- Introduce retail businesses to contribute with marketing and appropriate locations to the voluntary delivery points, creating a reward model for engaged consumers;

- Benefiting the consumer through discounts on products, since it participates in the project of collection of post consumer packaging and, gain community recognition for participating in this action.

- Wisebi online platform system, where clients have access to their projects, mapping and compiling material volumes of partner cooperatives, material value, current sales value, documentation, diagnostics, photos and testimonials;

- Blockchain tracking technology, creating connection and confidentiality between waste delivered and receiving at cooperatives, where cooperatives will visualize and manage their waste and Boomera will have waste management for post consumer resin development;

- Innovation in the management of waste with the voluntary delivery points, so that it is efficient and with quality in the separation at the moment of delivery;

- Reverse logistics with a circular and continuous flow of products, packaging or other materials, from the point of production until its moment of return to origin.

Blockchain technology is used to track waste transactions and improve transparency and trust between consumer and cooperative.

Beyond blockchain technology, it will be a complement with innovation in the reverse logistics and waste management sector. The final product must ensure quality of work to our cooperative employees.

The monitoring resource application, from end to end, will be complemented to carry out the homologation of the cooperatives, central of waste sorting, including the reverse logistics, which has all the tracking of the recycling chain.

We innovate in the waste management sector, introducing a business model that we identify if it relates to success and the possibilities to add value and give opportunity to some specific waste.

The Rootcycle presents all the necessary actors so that the operation of the process in terms of environmental and social impact is efficient and scalable. Together with the circular economy opening doors to innovations, we can aggregate to consumers in general, attributing beneficial actions by bringing their clean and separate waste.

At the same time, the social impact is decreased by the involvement of new ideals for the employees of the cooperatives, ensuring quality of life and decent work, involving the family and the closest ones.

Our requirement for post-consumer resin exceeded what is available because what we had was not of high quality, as very degraded materials. In order to increase the quality and quantity of raw material after consumption, we had to help to increase the supply, involving us in the change of the recycling scenario.

Our solution currently aggregates five cooperatives with an average of 50 employees each, and people impacted indirectly as consumers, families and local markets are on average 100 people. Our pilot has an average of 750 people impacted.

In a year, we will expand to another 30 franchise cooperatives in the state of São Paulo, so that we can serve around 1.500 people, contributing to indirectly impact other people, adding up to 3.000 people, increasing the development of the project. Complementing with the voluntary delivery points, we will increase all waste separation productivity, bringing more plastics that would be grounded to the development of quality postconsumer resins.

And, in five years, we would like to expand to all of Brazil, since Boomera has a partnership with dozens of cooperatives today. This kind of scale has potential to bring more quality of life for all our partners, adding a lot of people to the chain. This includes increasing the number of voluntary delivery points, bringing benefits to a higher rate in the population.

Our goals for next year are to increase partner cooperatives throughout the state of São Paulo and other states in Brazil, adjusting the work environment with quality waste separation guides, increasing the number of waste separated correctly, without requiring a second triage, for the development of recycled raw material.

In 5 years, our goals are to have most of the cooperatives in Brazil engaged and working on the project, partners of Boomera, being a model of quality of life and adequate working environment, increasing the productivity in the separation of post consumer waste, consequently increasing the productivity of the development of the post consumer resin that, in those years of research, will bring more quality as resistance, flexibility and possible use of food packaging. Voluntary delivery and collection points must be present in the largest number of Brazilian retailers, increasing consumer awareness.

At present, the barriers are the availability of capital and waste from companies, specially those where work is linearly scaled to make the system efficient.

Volumes should be aligned with post consumer resin production, as our planning is based on studies on waste volume and changes by cooperatives through collection of material from specific points such as energy delivery points.

We also consider legal barriers related to the reuse of waste, which limit the use of some recycled raw materials for the use of food packaging, for example.

Currently, Boomera is in contact with great managers so we can provide an efficient management, giving continuity to to project's planning. In addition, the bonus system is being expanded to condominiums in São Paulo, where we offer point benefits that can be transformed into credit bonus for our retail partners; in doing so, the project increases its volume of raw materials with quality.

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Full-time: 2 people

Part-time: 5 people

Our multidisciplinary team has the necessary expertise and has extensive international experience working in small and large companies, business and industrial experience, market research and R & D.

Bárbara Vargas, chemistry, specialist in polymer engineering and master's degree in materials engineering with emphasis on nuclear radiation. She has been working for 4 years in the field of polymers, currently in research and development of resins after consumption of flexible and rigid additives.

Beatriz Duarte, Bachelor in Industrial Design, Master's Degree in Marketing and Management, Master’s of Business Administration, and Continuous Formation in Circular Economy and Marketing Strategy. Experienced in project management, especially in the area of sustainability.

Maiara Tuller, chemical engineer, continued training in project management and scrum & agile, and currently pursuing specialization in polymer engineering. Experience in waste control generated.

Stephanie Walker, an environmental engineer with experience in innovation, environmental consulting and recycling of plastic materials.

Guilherme de Luca, materials engineer, with specialization in industrial administration, with more than 10 years in experience in process engineering.

Eduardo Kawasse, production engineer, MBA in business management, with more than 15 years in the area of packaging development coordinator at unilever, danone and kimberly clark.

Guilherme Brammer, materials engineer, MBA in marketing and MBA in sustainability management, experience in business management and sustainability and currently CEO of Boomera.

Mauá Institute of Technology; where our research and development laboratory is, and partner for mechanical tests of the obtained materials.

Okena is the partner for washing and milling waste;

Dow Chemical Company Brazil, provides material that helps in our formulation of the recycled products we develop.

Cooperatives are our most important business partners, are responsible for providing service of collection and sorting of the material of our projects.

Fundación Avina Brazil helps us in our projects with cooperatives with a look more of cooperativism and social aspects.

Our business model extends to partner companies to work with a building condominium bonus system or voluntary delivery points, where we monetize through the sale of the post consumer resin and system management and credit bonus program.

We are self-sufficient with project management and sale of post consumer resin, and for us, the path to financial sustainability is through the continuity of projects paid for companies. This money can be reinvested in the development of our platform and in the growth of the team, bringing growth to the project.

Boomera seeks to accelerate and boost the implementation of post consumer resin in Brazil through the exposure of the Solve MIT program; it will be fundamental to present our value proposition.

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For example, GM focused on circular economy and wasting resources would be a valuable partner to help us accelerate and enter new industries 

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The GM Prize on Circular Economy will help us boost the implementation of post-consumption resin in Brazil and be a model for other businesses that can complement our project, growing in the recycling scenario, increasing the demand for recycled plastic and accelerating the entire transformation process of the post consumer raw material with quality and confidentiality.

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