📱 Waste apps – are they worth it?

We just held a really lively discussion via be Waste Wise on the huge value of waste apps, featuring frontrunners in the field:
Lorena Gallardo of ReciVeci in Ecuador
Eng. Allen M Kimambo of #ZaidiApp TakaNiAjira Foundation in Tanzania

What value can waste apps offer?

💚 #Inclusion of grassroots recyclers, improving their status in society, reducing harassment, strengthening transparency, and improving income.

💛 A tool for a genuinely #JustTransition, putting the needs of workers at the centre of service delivery.

💜 Data, data, data. #WasteData is usually very poor quality, but by capturing data through the apps, municipalities and companies can access real-time and accurate waste data to inform policy, infrastructure development and #CSR programmes.

💙 #Scalability! Everyone’s talking about the need for scalable impact. Well, this is it right here. ReciVeci is now operating in 10 cities across Ecuador, while #ZaidiApp is available for other organisations to use and has expanded from Tanzania to Uganda, Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. I think we can say scalability is proven – and there is maybe no need for every organisation to build their own app?

🧡 #EPR Extended Producer Responsibility models can’t be copy+pasted from Europe to other very different contexts and cultures. Where there are thousands of individuals collecting waste it’s easy for them to be “missed” in the distribution of EPR funds. With inclusion and transparency in the value chain, EPR models can be better designed to actually meet local needs and make sure no-one is left behind.
(This will be the topic of an upcoming be Waste Wise webinar so please stay tuned…)

So, whether your focus is on:

Ending #OpenBurning

Ensuring universal access to #WasteManagement services

Building a #CircularEconomy

Structuring #ClimateFinance

Developing #EPR

Strengthening a #JustTransition…

if you don’t have an app for your waste workers – you need one.

Huge thanks again to Swetha Dandapani for hosting, and to our two expert panellists Lorena Gallardo and Eng. Allen M Kimambo for sharing all the wonderful features of your apps, and for the way you are truly putting people at the heart of your services.

ReciVeci pic translation: “It’s one thing to recycle, and another to recycle inclusively.”