Strategy

Waste Ventures adopts an inclusive strategy where we are aiming to work together with all stakeholders in the Waste Management ecosystem. It is also one focused on aggressive expansion, as we have seen that the long-term public-private partnership agreements that are currently being signed on an increasingly large scale can hinder or completely block the adoption of a more socially inclusive and environmentally friendly model.  

Initial geography: India

For our initial geography we have chosen India as it has one of the highest concentration of Waste Pickers and people whose livelihood depend on waste anywhere in the world. We have estimated that there are between 1 and 1.5 million people in India who are currently living off scrap materials and recyclables. 

From our experience of working with the waste picker groups in India, we have identified that there are still many unanswered questions about how to best operate sustainable market driven solid waste management involving waste pickers. Therefore we have a adopted a strategy we call Learning Labs.

Our Learning Lab strategy is based on conducting multiple small-scale waste management experiments in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, that together with suitable control groups, will answer questions such as:

1. Uptake by households - What is the best marketing method for households? Can we help households feel valuable by providing them with an SMS facility through which to report missed collection days?
2. Reliance on local staff - Does payment of monthly bonus incentives to collectors and supervisors raise customer service levels?
3. Operating and capital expense - Are we able to improve upon existing handcart designs for half the price? How can we minimize CapEx exposure through use of innovative materials in building our compost and recycling sheds?
4. Translation of profit to impact - Which methodology is more effective at increasing waste picker children in school: supply school uniforms to their parents, or check school attendance records? Is provision of a credit facility, savings plan or pensions plan more effective at increasing family wealth?

As we gather the results from this work, we aim to publish it freely so that other organizations operating in this space can make use of it.

Future expansion: Worldwide

Waste Pickers are present throughout the world. Once we have been able to successfully adopt our blueprint in the India context, we aim to continue expansion and dissemination of our model until we have reached our vision of having created a new paradigm for waste management throughout developing countries.

Three activities

Our operations are oriented around three main activities - Build, Disseminate, Foster. In order to create a new sector of waste management in developing countries we believe it's necessary to go beyond simply creating waste picker corporations, but also enable others to follow our blueprint as well as changing the regulatory environment for waste management.

• Build:
  Incubate and ensure financing for sustainable waste picker corporations (WPC)
• Disseminate:
  Publish & share best case practices, technology and materials to allow any organization to employ our blueprint
• Foster
  Create and promote an environment of best case practices in solid waste management