ReneWaste

ReneWaste: The collaborative platform to transact waste.

The problem

To reach a circular development model – which works to reduce waste before it is produced, but which treats waste as a resource when it is – it becomes essential to enhance the recycling levels in our cities. Still, the accumulation of urban waste is one of the biggest villains of sustainable development.

Bringing numbers to this problem, we can say that in Portugal 🇵🇹 : 

• Commercial establishments, construction and industry are responsible for more than 70% of waste production.
• 3 tons of waste per capita are dumped in landfills annually.
• Bad waste management is also an economic problem: Cities pay annually a value of 50 million euros for waste disposal.
• The recycling rate is still low, at around 13%. For comparison, this rate reaches 38% in the EU countries.

But why recycling is so underrated, given that it is possible to earn money from the sale of waste? The main reasons are three:

• The link between the parties involved in the buying and selling of waste is a chain with no digital connection.
• Waste has a high commercial value, but retail businesses, industries and other stakeholders are not aware of the needs of the waste management companies  - that need the raw material and are willing to pay for it.
• The costs of transportation are usually very high, putting the seller in a loss-making situation which may jeopardise the transactions.

The solution

More integration and collaboration among the stakeholders are needed to overcome the aforementioned issues. Therefore, we develop the web app ReneWaste, which stands as a bridge between waste management companies and end-users (e.g., retail market, microbusiness owners, industries, supermarkets, etc.)

In this sense, our solution is based on:

• Development of a web app to connect the retail market players with waste management companies.
• Integration in a collaborative platform (marketplace) for selling and buying waste among the users.
• Transportation costs, carried out by partners, are shared between sellers to reduce expenses, optimize routes, and minimize environmental impact.

The APP

• First, waste management companies registered in our application inform the type of waste, quantity demanded and values for the purchase.
• Then, the companies interested in selling make their offer in order to collaborate to meet the demand placed on the platform.
• Once the target is reached, the cost of transport, carried out by partners, is shared among the sellers to reduce costs, optimise routes, and minimise environmental impacts.

Profit streams and scaling

We propose three different ways to make our platform financially sustainable: Percentage fee over transactions, premium features (subscription), and advertisement.

We believe that the Portuguese market has the ideal conditions to leverage our project.

• The Trade and Services sector generates around 490,000 tons of recycling waste such as glass, paper and plastic annually.
• This value is equivalent to a potential market of 96.5 million euros.
• If we reach 10% of the market, our average revenue would reach 180,000 euros per year by subtracting all operating costs.

We aim to start a pilot project in the city of Coimbra (where we live), and later scale to mainland Portugal and the entire European Union.

Our Team

We are a young team, focused and passionate about sustainability!

ReneWaste: More than a business...

Our solution is capable of mobilizing society through a simple, fast, sustainable and digital platform.