TECHDIGEST – Over the years, the global application of technological tools for entrepreneurship engagement in waste management has been gaining momentum, thus becoming a top agenda item.

The recent invitation of Trashpays Services, a Nigerian waste management services startup, to the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum (WUF 11) taking place in Katowice, Poland between 26th and 30th June 2022 aimed at discussing inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban future has re-emphasized the need for more awareness of driving the use of technology to achieve waste management in Nigeria.

Trashpays Services has earned commendations for its immense support and contribution in training and organizing workshops on waste to wealth entrepreneurship programmes, and teaching women on ways of recycling waste matters into profitable resources.

READ ALSO: Trashpays:Transforming Waste into Economic

Thus, the use of Information Technology as a tool in converting waste to wealth entrepreneurship goals has become a great initiative that the federal government and stakeholders need to integrate more households, businesses, and industries into the system.

E-waste also referred to as digital rubbish, is unwanted electronic products or any electronic equipment that has been discarded. On the other hand, those unwanted products discarded by society are called solid waste, thus requiring a proper disposition and management.

According to the United Nations, the quantity of e-waste has increased from 20 to 50 million tonnes per year since 2000. The report forecasted that the numbers will more than double by 2050 to reach a staggering 111 million tonnes per year.

In Nigeria, about 1.1 million n of e-waste is generated annually. As a result of the inability to manage such items, 75 percent of it is laying verge thereby causing hazards.

E-waste management in Nigeria includes waste collection, separation, transfer, treatment, recycling, and final disposal, as well as public information campaigns and awareness training which is facilitated by the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme.

With EPR, producers assume significant financial and/or physical responsibility for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products. To ensure that the EPR scheme remains resilient, manufacturers, assemblers, importers, and distributors contribute to the non-profit E-waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria, to ensure shared responsibility and funding for e-waste processing and recycling.

Nowadays, technology is transforming waste management in many ways. With this, waste is being turned into energy, precious metals are being recycled, route efficiency is being improved, and new collection and disposal technologies are being developed to meet up with the huge waste materials that need recycling.

Electronic and solid waste causes significant pollution and environmental degradation when improperly handled and disposed of. However, they still have numerous benefits when properly managed and recycled into valuable substances, and raw materials, as well as creating opportunities for economic growth.

Among the innovative technologies used in waste management are smart waste bins, waste level sensors, AI recycling/waste sorting robots, garbage truck weighing mechanisms, solar-powered trash compactors, and modern landfills powered by eco-friendly, sustainable technology.

For instance, Fascinate Technologies a startup that introduced the smart waste bin in Nigeria ensures effective waste collection that helps to minimize improper waste disposal, prevent environmental pollution, and the spread of diseases, and promote a greener and more eco-friendly environment.

Meanwhile, smart waste bins are designed to automatically sort recyclables into separate compartments using artificial intelligence. This process helps recycling companies to be able to filter waste and refine it into new goods for consumption and reuse.

The installation of waste level sensors in public bins and dumpsters of all sizes helps prevent overflowing and littering of the surrounding environment. This makes it easy for waste collectors to collect materials for refuse instead of ending up in landmines thereby causing land and water pollution.

It is important to note that recycling more waste reduces waste generation, regardless of its type. As landfills are reduced, more land can be used for agricultural purposes where teeming youth can cultivate and harvest, thus reducing the unemployment rate.

With this development, it is easy to integrate unemployed youths living in rural and major cities into recycling initiatives. When these waste management projects are carefully and properly organized, they will serve as sources of livelihood for unskilled workers.

Again, since recycling allows valuable materials to be recovered, reused, and protects earth’s resources, this, in turn, provides enormous opportunities for innovation and creativity in business models for sustainable solutions.

It is worrisome to learn that youth’s engagement in recycling waste has been undervalued by many because of the dirty image associated with waste reuse. But unknowing to many, the recovery of valuable materials from waste is enough for further investment when properly handled.

Due to technological advancement, polythene bags, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), bottles, and even paper can be recycled by companies that recycle plastic waste into semi-processed raw materials for plastic manufacturers and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) into plastic resins or pellets.

Therefore, it is vital for the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to encourage waste management startups/companies, environmental management agencies, and other relevant private and public sector stakeholders to raise awareness and enlighten more youths to harness the endless opportunities that are yet untapped in this sector.

In effect, more waste recycling companies will emerge to convert waste into wealth to achieve a stable economy and improve the well-being of the people.

Zeenat Sambo
Wuye District Abuja

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TECHDIGEST – Trashpays Services have over the past years involve in providing services on waste management. The company since its inception has encouraged youth participation in environmental conservation and management. Their contribution earn them the mandate to represent Nigeria at the 2021 Global Manufacturing and Industrial Summit (GMIS) in Dubai.

The Enterprise also continued to receive recognition and became affiliate and partner of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on Waste Wise Cities and African Clean Cities forums, discussing on issues of solid waste management in line with the Global Sustainable Goals (GSGs).

Presently, the enterprise is invited to the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum 11 (WUF) that would be held at the International Congress Centre in Katowice, Poland from 26 to 30 June 2022 to discuss co-creating an inclusive, safe, resilient sustainable urban future.

READ ALSO:Trashpays Innovation on Converting Plastic Waste to Fuel and Building Materials

On 21 June, Trashpays Services received an invitation letter from the Federal Ministry of Environment to discuss on proposed partnership and endorsement request by the company. The Ministry through the Deputy Director, Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Alhaji A.B Usman received the management of Trashpays at the Solid Waste Management Division.

The Chief Executive Officer of Trashpays Service Mr. Ikechukwu Odiri spoke on behave of the management of the company on the core mandate of the enterprise and why the intervention was necessary in the most populous black Nation of the World.

The CEO emphasized the adoption of technology in solving the solid waste challenge we face in urban cities. Describing the development and use of Information Technology as a tool to involve more households, businesses, industries in solid waste management.

During the presentation, Mr. Ikechukwu stressed on the need of inclusiveness of women and female adolescents on environmental sanitation practice, stating that Trashpays services have done training and workshops on waste to wealth entrepreneurship programme, teaching women on possible ways they can transform waste items to resources.

The Deputy Director, Alhaji Usman on his part,  wanted to be clear of the impact of the company on retaining skillsets thought to the participants of Trashpays waste to wealth programme.

The CEO further shared his experience when he encountered one of the trainee, he said the lady was happy to have acquired the skillset and went further to start producing her own bags from plastic materials. However, he concluded by saying, the government of Nigeria needs to continue to support and encourage the business community on addressing the issue of sanitation literacy and circular economy.

The meeting was a fruitful engagement of practitioners of safe environment. The Ministry gave a nod to Trashpays Services, and promise to work closely with the enterprise through endorsement and partnership.

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TECHDIGEST – Waste production and management has been a very big environmental issue over the last couple of decades in many parts of the world, especially in developing nations like Africa with no specific or imposed law regarding waste generation and disposal, emanating from the daily consumption and activities of the citizens.

Dumping of waste in unseemly places such as open incinerators, drainages, rivers, streams, open spaces and sensitive places have  become common and regular occurrences due to the lack of knowledge of how hazardous it can be to personal health and the immediate environment.

Waste that are dumped indiscriminately often times pollutes the environment and air with unpleasant smells with air borne diseases that threaten public health. This waste causes blockage of water bodies and also provides harmful materials for aquatic animals by reducing their lifespan. The Global Sustainable Development Goals has emphasized on good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, climate action, life below water, and life on land. These goals are impacted by waste we generate from our households, marketplace, industries and cities.

Waste management have created an avenue for researchers and innovator to continue to develop models and initiatives to mitigate and provide alternative use for generated waste items. These reasons and many more brought about the initiative behind the formation of Trashpays, an online platform which enables people to trade their waste/ trash items to earn money while recycling them into renewable good and most importantly help maintain an hygienic environment by removing waste and trash off the streets.

Trashpays Services since her inception has employed the services of experts to conduct researches on waste and how best to convert, reuse, re-modify, recycle and reduce waste items.

In an interview with one of the researchers for Trashpays Services, Mr. Chibuzor, he explained in details why he became Interested in transforming waste to wealth, he felt it was another way to improve the state of the economy and change our sorry tale of constant recession by creating means of livelihood and job opportunities for our steaming youth population. He elaborated on possible transformation capacity of items we use in our households, marketplaces and cities to reusable and recycled raw materials.
The knowledge of waste management and recycling is a gold mine most people are yet to discover.

For these reasons, Trashpays decided to contribute their quota by organising many training and workshop sessions in collaboration with other health and environmental concerned agencies to educate people on how to transform their trash into wealth, one of the biggest training session was held sometime last year in Abuja which was term WWETP (Waste to Wealth Entrepreneurship Programme), the training was met with a huge success as the participants were able to learn a lot of useful tips from experts in various categories of waste transformation.

The Trashpays Services had also assured that there would be many more of those workshops and training sessions in the near future with the aim to exposing many youths as possible to the usefulness of trash so they can become self reliant and sufficient to better their lives and of those around them. Mr. Chibuzor affirmed that Trashpays Services are strategizing on taking this workshops and training to all the six Geo-political Zones of the Federation, with open collaboration with State Government, Federal Government, International Partners and Private Enterprise.

Mr chibuzor gave a very good and solid example of how he usually extract PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) petrol, diesel and even make interlocking blocks from the ruminate wastes of plastic water bottles and nylons which are mostly found lying carelessly about, this is done by extracting the liquid of the products. He went further to enlist more materials that can be product from these waste items such as plastic pipes, roofing sheets and carpets.

He also told the story of how he carried out an experiment in the year 2015 by burying a plastic bottle and left it for years before going back to dig it up in the year 2020 and he found the bottle still intact and undecomposed and that fired his desire and need to research more on plastic waste and how to recycle them for better uses. He said, many other generated household and marketplace waste materials can also be recycled. Stating that we can convert organic waste to biomass that can be used for cooking gas and even generate electricity to power our homes. He went further to say, condemn engine oil can also be recycled and used again. He stated that these training can be exhibited by Trashpays Services, and the company is looking forward to create a physical hub where technical and innovation skills can be demonstrated and transferred.
In his review on his research,  he came to the conclusion that in the next few decades, “plastic and nylon wastes” would become a resource that countries would transform to provide an alternative source for livelihood and innovations. These forms of innovations in the future would contribute to the nation’s powerful economic tool if channeled and used rightly to their advantage.

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TECHDIGEST – Solid waste management as always been a concern to developing and developed societies. Africa’s urban cities continue to suffer from poor management of waste generated from households, marketplaces, businesses and institutions, who’s waste are dispose incriminatory in drains, dump sites and open spaces. These practices causes flooding, air, land and water pollution, diseases such as respiratory and skin infection also manifest due to poor sanitation and hygiene, and poor physical environment.

Globally, over 3 billion people lack access to controlled waste disposal facilities according to (UN-Habitat, 2021). It was also stated that 2 billion tonnes of solid waste is generated by cities and communities in 2016, and by 2050 this ratio would double. Deliberate efforts is been made by the government of developed societies to tackle these incidences. The UN-Habitat made it mandatory for both developed and developing countries to key into the programs of reducing waste and promoting circular economy that mitigate and control waste generation.

Waste Wise Cities is one of the conceptual framework developed by UN-Habitat to tackle poor waste management in urban cities with introduction of 12 key principles of engagement. These principles includes understanding the quantity and type of waste generated, improving collection and transportation of these waste, ensuring environmentally safe disposal of such waste, the adoption of the 5Rs that consists of Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycling.

Other principles involves the empowering of waste stakeholders, establishing a better working condition for waste operators whether in formal or informal employment, exploration and implementation of innovative technology alternatives, making long-term urban strategic plans that concerns waste, designing incentives and promoting circular economy, re-orientation of individuals through public education, civil engagement and demonstration, and finally achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Trashpays services limited since inception in 2019 has made the environment a core of our goal. The company was not just formed to make profit, but to impact positively on the environment and improve human development. The introduction of Waste Wise Cities vindicated the purpose of our existence. Trashpays can proudly say it has be meeting all set key principles of the waste wise cities model. Even before affiliation with this program, Trashpays mandate as been juxtaposing these principles, trying to achieve good physical environment and improving quality of life of urban dwellers through creating avenues from proper strategic waste management templates.

In addressing the set principles, the company has been able to identify various waste items generated from households, commercial areas and industrials zones. Items such as plastic, nylon bags, aluminum cans, carton papers and glass bottles dominance these waste materials from households. In most cases these items contribute to rising cases of flooding, and pollutions on land and in water at the biosphere, facilitating climate change and environmental degradation.

Trashpays has been able to develop bin cages that helps to sort out different waste items from households, office spaces and commercial complexes. This process helps to separate waste items neatly and reduce the amount of unnecessary contamination of these items. The company also try to provide a transportation means that helps to transport these items to recycle plants or collection points, through our special Trashpays tricycles, driven by our agents.

This intervention helps to address the next key principle that emphases on safe environmental waste disposal.

The 5Rs concept adopted by UN-Habitat on Rethinking of what waste could be, Refusing to use some items that can constitute waste, Reducing the amount of waste material in the environment through multi-purpose usage, Reusing of items or materials for other utilities and Recycling of items or materials to form another raw material as always been promoted by Trashpays. Our platform provides a hub where this process can be achieved. In recent times, many trash traders and recyclers connect directly using our platform, creating a one-stop shop for practitioners.

In term of empowerment, Trashpays services have created a conducive online and offline platform for waste traders. Our online platform create an incentive for trash dealers through a point system that rewards in cash to household traders and a selling point for merchant of the business to recyclers and industries that buys recycled raw materials. We also provide a platform for upcycled products, which have been transformed into creative pieces or innovations. Our last expo displayed some of the products gotten from plastic and rubber re-used waste items.

Trashpays has established a working model on formalizing waste trading. Our Trashpays Agent initiative provides decent opportunities for new and already existing waste dealers that go around the communities to collect different waste items. The company tries to end hunger and create decent job through the rebranding of waste collection. The agents are exposed to our information communication technology, with each agent working directly with us, given a tab for pickups and tricycle for easy transportation of sorted items such as plastic bottles, cans, carton papers and metal scarps. With formal identification of waste collectors, Trashpays brands their agents with company’s logo shirts, caps and written materials.

The adoption of technology into waste management has made evacuation of trash in our urban communities easier. In Germany for instance, households and individuals sort their trash items, and carry them to a well installed machine that collect these sorted items and pay them for it. In Sub-Saharan Africa, our advancement is limited. What Trashpays is trying to achieve is to make sure people become aware of their duties toward clean environment. The company tries to combine civil duty with empowerment, we believe our technology with great support would improve participation through our reward system. Creating more environmental cautious urban dwellers that will gain empowerment through trading in trash.

The eighth key principle of the waste wise cities emphasis on making long-term urban strategic plans on waste management.

Trashpays services intense to create a full waste management mechanism that would involve all factor of production in the business. Moving forward, we intend to establish physical sustainable recycle city that would demonstrate clean green energy, sustainable homes that would be built from recycled materials and commercial layout that would trade in processed waste materials. The long-term plan for Trashpays will engage all tiers of government, with international partnership engagement. Our urban strategic plans also promote the circular economy model adopted by most developed countries today. We at Trashpays will continue to create opportunities that will preserve our earth by using already existing materials to generate satisfaction.

Trashpays since inception has always engaged in public relations. We noticed our urban cities pay little attention to sanitation and hygiene. Majority of our settlements engage in poor waste disposal practice, estates and communities puts all domestic trash together, reducing the ability to separate clean waste from households.
Trashpays have started partnership with developers of modern luxurious homes to inform facility mangers to engage in trash sorting and separation. In order to have waste agents collecting sorted items that can be taking directly to holding yards and recycling plants. Also the company engage in workshops and training, that teaches young people technical skills on transforming waste items into upcycled products. In 2021, our business partnered with Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and Government agencies to educate urban dwellers on livelihood skills that can be gotten directly from trading in trash, which can help solve problem of unemployment and improve their productivity toward economy development.

With the opportunity Trashpays gets from the affilliation with UN-Habitats, we believe the platform would create an avenue for growth in our social network and innovation. We would be able to look at world best practices to build on our solution. Our mandate moving forward is to touch more lives through this partnership and tell our story to the rest of the world on the step young Africans are making to preserve the biosphere and combat climate change. Our progress would also be updated on the website of the UN-Habitats to serve as an advocacy channel for more activists of environmental sustainability and management.

United Nations General Assembly that comprises of almost all nations in the world, have been keen on United Nation Development Programme’s (UNDP) 17 Sustainable Development Goals formulated in 2015. Most projects and intervention has been channeled to this goals. Trashpays have been cautious of these goals and tries to use waste management to solve more than 10 Sustainable Development Goals. Major attention is given to Goal 1- No Poverty, Goal 2- Zero Hunger, Goal 3- Good Health and Well -Being, Goal 6- Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 8- Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 9- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Goal 11 to 15 that emphases on Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water and Life on Land. Finally the last set goal is on Partnerships, which Trashpays and UN-Habitat has formed progressive front in attaining these fit.

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TECHDIGEST – E-commerce is the use of the internet for marketing, identification, payment and delivery of goods and services.

Through the e-commerce technology, the internet has revolutionised the mode of business transactions by providing customers with the ability to bank, invest, purchase, distribute, communicate, explore and research from virtually anywhere, anytime where there is internet access.

A few examples of e-commerce marketplace platforms include Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, Shopify, Jumia, Konga, JiJi, Expertnaire e.t.c.

E-commerce plays a significant role in the marketplace, both nationally and internationally. With more people making purchases online rather than at traditional retail stores, it is becoming a fast-growing area of business and one to strongly consider as you plan your own career.

E-commerce is a huge part of the economy and is vital to businesses that sell their products or services online. It gives businesses the ability to reach more customers than traditional retail.

With so many people making their purchases online, it is the fastest-growing retail market.

E-commerce waste management startup, Trashpays says its operations have been programmed to ensure the profitable empowerment of Nigerian youths through active participation in the company’s innovative waste management initiative.

In an exclusive interview with TechDigest, the co-founder of Trashpays, Oyetunji Adewale Bashir said that the company will help impact Nigerians by creating awareness for greener environment, improving sanitation and hygiene through their mobile application and its navigation features.

He explained that the startup was set up to solve waste management problems by providing a platform for buying and selling of items produced from waste.

According to him, the company has economically empowered many youth who are working as household trash collectors on the platform.

Trashpays was established to solve problems relating to waste management. The platform is a hub where households, trash collectors, reclyclers, and industries buy and sell products.

“We provided a template for upcycling and innovation of crafted items from waste and reusable items on our platform.

“Trashpays also enable youth empowerment through Trashpays Agent engagement whereby able youth involve themselves in advocacy and trading.

“We provide them with tricycle for collection of trash items from households. In return they exchange these items for point system that is later converted to cash through personal registered account of the user on our platform.

The Trashpays co-founder also told Techdigest that his company was prepared to engage relevant stakeholders to encourage partnership and patronage from individuals, government institutions, and private sector organisations in Nigeria.

“We are trying so hard to involve stakeholders that understand the importance of good physical environment to human development. With the Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Advocacy, we believe we can partner with government, non-governmental organisations and philanthropies to develop sustainable cities and communities.

“We are proposing a Recycling City to investors and donors of green environment and environmental adaptation. For now, we need patronage. We are trying to be big in marketing and awareness on the positive impact that our ideas and innovation can bring to Africa and the world at large.

Benefits of e-commerce include its around-the-clock availability, the speed of access, the wide availability of goods and services for the consumer, easy accessibility and international reach, creation of more jobs, lower operational costs, easier and more convenient shopping, allows comparison shopping among others.

The perceived challenges of e-commerce include sometimes low internet penetration, network reliability issues, limited customer service, consumers not being able to see or touch a product prior to purchase and the wait time for product shipping, fear of inadequate security, high cost of accessing the web, lack of trust in retailers, unreliable last-mile delivery, lack of privacy and confidentiality.

The federal government and private organizations should invest in training, adequate publicity and other enlightenment programs that are very vital to change the negative attitudes of consumers to e-commerce transactions with emphasis on e-shopping, e-banking and e-business.

Public and private sector stakeholders should systemically expand high speed information network and recruiting skilled IT personel as this will promote the growth of e-commerce in the country.

Above all, while the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is investing heavily in developing capacities in the sector, it is important that the government should provide enabling environments to enable startups access funds to conduct research and develop their products.

Abbas Badmus is a Staff Writer with Techdigest

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TECHDIGEST – Online waste management startup, Trashpays says its operations have been programmed to ensure the profitable empowerment of Nigerian youths through active participation in the company’s innovative waste management initiative.
In an exclusive interview with TechDigest, the co-founder of Trashpays, Oyetunji Adewale Bashir said that the company will help impact Nigerians by creating awareness for greener environment, improving sanitation and hygiene through their mobile application and its navigation features.

He explained that the startup was set up to solve waste management problems by providing a platform for buying and selling of items produced from waste.
According to him, the company has economically empowered many youth who are working as household trash collectors on the platform.

“The human environment becomes a thing of concern for sustainability. Trashpays was established to solve problems relating to waste management. The platform is a hub where households, trash collectors, reclyclers, and industries buy and sell products. We provided a template for upcycling and innovation of crafted items from waste and reusable items on our platform.

“Trashpays also enable youth empowerment through Trashpays Agent engagement whereby able youth involve themselves in advocacy and trading. We provide them with tricycle for collection of trash items from households. In return they exchange these items for point system that is later converted to cash through personal registered account of the user on our platform’’.

The Trashpays co-founder also told Techdigest that his company was prepared to engage relevant stakeholders to encourage partnership and patronage from individuals, government institutions, and private sector organisations in Nigeria.

“We are trying so hard to involve stakeholders that understand the importance of good physical environment to human development. With the Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Advocacy, we believe we can partner with government, non-governmental organisations and philanthropies to develop sustainable cities and communities.
“We proposing a Recycling City to investors and donors of green environment and environmental adaptation. For now, we need patronage. We are trying to be big in marketing and awareness on the positive impact that our ideas and innovation can bring to Africa and the World at large.

While applauding the effort of the federal government in empowering youth through NITDA, the co-founder appealed for transparency and accountability to enable startups access funds to carry out research and development.

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