Mobile platform designed to improve scavenger revenue

Toronto-based Plastics For Change says it has developed a mobile technology system to “increase recycling rates by ensuring that urban waste pickers are paid a fair value for the plastic they collect.”

What the group calls its “open-book trading platform” is designed to “build trust and transparency through the supply chain and reward the middlemen who pay waste pickers fair market prices.”

The organization says it partners with eco-friendly brands to recycle this ethically sourced plastic into recycled product lines with a triple bottom line impact.

Plastics For Change also has launched a campaign designed to raise funds for the methodology so it can be used widely in India. The campaign is already over 50 percent funded with backers from over 10 countries, says the group.

The platform has been tested with urban recyclers in Coimbatore, India. Plastics For Change plans on using the funds raised to implement the system in numerous developing communities in India and eventually expand it to regions around the world that have a high level of poverty.

Citing United Nations data, Plastics For Change says the root cause of plastic litter and ocean pollution stems from the fact that some 3.5 billion people, or half of the world’s population, do not have access to waste management and recycling services.

In many of these places, however, people make a living by collecting and selling discarded plastic items. Although these urban waste pickers help clean up cities and increase recycling rates, they often have no means of knowing whether they are receiving fair market value for what they collect. Plastics For Changes says improved incentives may help developing countries improve on their “dismal 2-to-8 percent recycling rates.”

A video about the Plastics For Change initiative can be found here.