Identify an environmental problem in your community (air, land, waste etc.) build a solution that can help to control and regulate its adverse impact. Your solution must be inclusive, safe and sustainable.
Non-Biodegradale Waste (NBW) such as Plastics, Cartons, Nylons etc
Generally, there have been lukewarm responses to the challenges posed by improper disposal of waste especially in this part of the world. It is no news that tons of waste is generated every day and some of these wastes are harmful to the ecosystem especially non-biodegradable wastes (NBW) such as PET bottles, carton, nylons and e-waste. Most of which end up in the roads, gutters and ultimately our water bodies. Yes, there are waste management firms helping to mitigate it and helping to sweeping the streets. However, it is obvious that NBW reduction and recycling would not improve if we don’t tackle it from the source. As our environment is consistently littered with these unwanted waste resources even with the collective efforts of our waste management systems put in place by both private and public institutions. It means only one thing; the current process is ineffective and it is ineffective because the problem is not solved from the source. Sources such as individual homes, offices, company premises, bus-stops where people make use of these items and dump them such that people are incentivized to be conscious and properly dispose these NBW. Truthfully, this decentralized approach will no doubt cause some existing companies to become obsolete. But this is the price of progress. And let’s be honest, many of them are paid to cut corners, not take care of the environment or community at large. It would go a very long way to save our dear cities and sustain them and the ecosystem at large. Our world is on a collision course with disaster if we don’t change our habits of poor waste disposal and management. Research has it that an estimated 12 million tons of plastic gets to the ocean annually. This not just bad for the ocean but has a very long-term effect on us humans if we do not actively implement the RRR (Recycle, Reuse and Reduce) mantra. According to the International Telecommunications Union, it is estimated that a whopping €55 billion ($47 billion) has been lost to non-biodegradable waste. The second biggest contributor of value is plastics. Summary of the financial potential of NBW is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Financial Potential in mining NBW
More so, having done some market research on a sampled population, it can be deduced that an average Nigerian buy no less than five items in plastic containers (food, groceries, cosmetic or others) and as such more likely dispose them with little thought towards saving the ecosystem. However, the survey result showed that over 80% are more than willing to dispose plastics and NBW properly by saving them and willing to take them to a collection center without incentives. With incentives such as cash rewards, data subscription, recharge card voucher, educational books and other product base incentives, the willingness improved by 13%.
To develop an app that rewards proper and efficient collection of non-biodegradable waste (pet bottles, e-waste, cartons). It is a reward system that is modelled after blockchain technology. While out there only few persons with the resources could mine coins such as bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and others, here anyone is given the opportunity to mine waste (collect, gather and dispose properly) and receive token rewards in exchange. The token or WasteCoin would be an equivalent of the weight of waste delivered. It is more like a community of waste reduction conscious society and they get tokens which can be converted to cash or other incentives. The waste is collected by Agents (middlemen) who credit the users with WasteCoins. These Agents could be waste managers, individuals or staff of the recycling company who are authorized to collect waste on behalf of their parent company (Our client). While the waste goes to where it is needed, coins are mined and distributed accordingly to users. For waste accountability, certain amount of WasteCoin would be allocated to a geographical area, let us say, a State per month. These allocated coins would be a function of historical and forecasted estimation of waste produced in that area. Thus, such amount of waste is expected to be mined. That makes it a monthly target of waste collection which every app user is encouraged to work towards. They are updated as the coins are reducing till the allocation is finished. For instance, according to the Lagos state government, Lagos state produce an average of 13,000 tons of waste per day. Hypothetically, let’s assume 20 percent are non-biodegradable waste (NBW) of interest (PET bottles, carton and e-waste). That means 2600 tons of NBW is produced. Thus, monthly, 78,000 tons of NBW is expected to be produced. Realistically, all 78,000 tons cannot be recovered. However, we could make available tokens for 78,000tons of NBW. So monthly, we could have 78,000WC (WasteCoin) available for Lagosians to mine. By implication, every 1 ton = 1WC. This could be a motivation for all stakeholders. Waste Collection could be community base as community leaders could be rallied and their support obtained to encourage their subjects to buy into the vision.
if an average Nigerian is made aware of the value of these NBW and would be incentivized. The consciousness would drive good and acceptable waste disposal habit. This can be achieved via this wastecoin project as it would consentiously help to reduce and recycle non-biodegradable waste in accordance to the Sustainable Development Goal no 11, help keep our cities safe and clean and also reward good waste disposal habit.
-
Malik downloaded the WasteCoin app -
So, in his spare time, he collects these NBWs and store them OR -
He was in charge of office cleaning and he discovered that the office or the premises was used for some party with lots of PET bottles on the round. He picks them and store them somewhere safe OR -
He decided to collect these NWBs at home, from his neighbors and environment. -
While on his way to work, he walked into our collection center -
weighted the waste and dropped it for collection and waited to be credited -
As measured, the equivalent amount of token would be transferred to Malik's account. -
When it is sufficient for exchange, Malik could exchange it for cash or any other palliatives.
So, let’s say Malik was able to gather and save up to 10,000WC after one month, it could be converted to let’s say N1000 or request for a recharge card worth N1000.
-
The business model is not limited to any locality in terms of reach to market share reach as anyone with the app can go at his/her convenience to drop NWB and get credited depending on the arrangement agreed upon. -
Gives everyone the opportunity to make conscious and unconscious effort towards saving and protecting the environment -
It is flexible and can be modified to suit any state waste need in Nigeria -
Solid arrangements would have been made with Client companies who needs NBW to collect them at the designated waste centers
-
Develop a community of waste conscious society -
Reduce waste drastically especially plastic, carton and e-waste -
There is reward for compliance as every plastic user is rewarded for their plastic accountability as against a few who does not. -
There would be a ready feedstock for companies that used NBW for production of other products
-
How to help Nigerians see the bigger picture of saving the environment that what they more likely get from the project. -
How to fashion out an acceptable yet profitable reward system in terms of valuation for token.
The WasteCoin solution is not just one feasible solution but also inclusive, safe, scalable and sustainable in any applied environmental settings.
- Django - Backend framework used
- Aminu Israel - Backend Developer, UI/UX
- Chidozie Managwu - Backend Developer, UI/UX
- Olarewaju Temitope Albert - Frontend Developer
- Mohammed Bayero - Backend Developer, Product Manager
- Mohammed Zubairu - Android App Developer/Frontend Developer
- Olagunju Daniel - Frontend Developer, Project Manager, UI/UX (TTL)
- Stephen Kamau - Team Mentor
If this project sounds interesting to you and you'd like to contribute, thank you! First, you can send a mail to [email protected] to indicate your interest, why you'd like to support and what forms of support you can bring to the table, but here are areas we think we'd need the most help in this project :
- area one (e.g this app is about human trafficking and you need feedback on your roadmap and feature list from the private sector / NGOs)
- area two (e.g you want people to opt-in and try using your staging app at staging.project-name.com and report any bugs via a form)
- area three (e.g here is the zoom link to our end-of sprint webinar, join and provide feedback as a stakeholder if you can)
Team -105 wants to explicitly thank Facebook and Andela for their support and assistance throughout this project. Special shoutout to Sam Esidem, Charles Odili, Amaka Mbaegbu and Cliff Gor for their assitance, patience and availability to help us through our difficulties.
MIT