SweepSmart

Plastic in Circles” program in action: best practices for Indonesia

Highlight 3: Commitments for a sustainable waste management solution in Ambon

Last week was really important for the success of the project. The PiCi Project 1 partners, the City of Ambon and local recycler RECO came together and discussed their commitments to the project.

The PiCi Partners will bring modern equipment and technical+social know-how and experience of setting up best-practice collection and sorting systems. The City of Ambon is committed to support in delivering the required site and buildings, collection of waste and contributing to the OPEX whereas Recovered Indonesia will offtake and recycle all the recyclable waste including low-value plastics at their upcoming recycling factory in Ambon.

With this, the project brings together all the necessary ingredients for building a financially and operationally viable end-to-end model from source-segregated collection to recycling of waste in the remote island setting of Ambon.

Let’s celebrate this great partnership: KOTA Ambon, Dutch government, P4G Partnerships, Green Moluccas, Recovered Indonesia, GEESINKNORBA, UpCycling Plastic, Rebel, TNO, MVO Nederland, Umincorp, The Ocean Cleanup, The Great Bubble Barrier, CLEAR RIVERS, Enviu - Innovators in sustainability , EcoBali - Waste Management, Education and Products, PT.Sumber Djaja Perkasa, Waste4Change, ADUPI

WAKE-UP CALL - Zero-waste for the climate!
Why we need to build waste management infrastructure in upcoming economies in Asia, Africa and South America in response to IPCC’s Climate Report.

Global warming will have catastrophic consequences for all of us. But there is still a chance of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and reduce the impacts on people and nature if we act urgently.

Building a global economy will require unprecedented transformation and ecosystems are critical for achieving this. Today between 70-90% of waste is openly dumped or burnt in developing countries*. This has dangerous effects on our climate. The IPCC report shows that landfills alone account for 15% of global Methane emissions (a greenhouse gas with 34X more warming potential than CO2 in 100 years period). Whereas studies from colleges in London shows that the open burning of waste could have a climate impact equivalent to 2-10% of global CO2 emissions**.

Thus, it is no brainer that we have to stop from ending up in landfills, oceans or the environment by rapidly building up waste collection and sorting infrastructures in upcoming countries of Asia, Africa and South America.

Great work of pioneering organisations in these geographies like Hasiru Dala Innovations , Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, Mr. Green Africa, SYSTEMIQ Ltd. and Plastic Whale needs to be scaled up. Sweepsmart has been pushing the boundaries for the last 5 years to get this done while creating green jobs for waste pickers to be proud of!

* World Bank- What a waste 2.0 Report: https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/
** Imperial College London- https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/black-carbon-from-burning-waste-has-significant-climate-impact/

Five years of ‘Turning waste into happiness’: Time for a new brand! See our new identity, read about our brand promise and hear from our first change-makers
CHECK IT OUT! https://mailchi.mp/2c4eff0b364a/great-sweepsmart-news-8034501

SweepSmart just became 5 years old. In these 5 years, we’ve learned a lot, and grown a lot. We plodded through the waste. We innovated and experimented, constantly looking for the best role for us to help change the system.

Why change the system? Mismanagement of waste is one of the biggest challenges the world faces today. In most upcoming economies, more than 80% of waste is openly dumped or burnt*, while millions of waste pickers work under severe conditions. To solve this huge problem, 500.000 people need to be connected to waste management systems every day until 2040**.

We started SweepSmart in 2016 because we believe we bring something unique to help solve this massive challenge: customising European waste management best practices to upcoming economies. Now, with 5 years of pioneering experience in 4 upcoming economies in our backpacks, we have more to bring to the table than ever. So today, we present our new identity and the essence of what we want to deliver to the world.

A big shout out to Cult Design & Co., Theo Kroese Auke Douma and the SweepSmart team for creating this new vision and identity!

*Worldbank: https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/
**Pew Charitable Trust and Systemiq:https://www.systemiq.earth/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BreakingThePlasticWave_SummaryReport.pdf

Help India’s Most Invisible Frontline Covid Workers – Waste Pickers

We are deeply concerned about the in India and hope that together we can overcome it soon. One of India’s most invisible and vulnerable communities through the current pandemic has been the informal sector waste-pickers made up mostly of women, children and Dalits, who are handling the garbage including the covid-infected garbage. Till now they were a severely marginalized group but in the current pandemic, they have been pushed to the brink. They have been continuing their work through the lockdowns, but with little to no financial, medical or welfare protection.

One of our Partners in India- Hasirudala is raising funds to provide them with food, medical and sanitation kits and additional support in the current crisis. A small help would go a long way to support them while they manage our waste.

Help India’s Most Invisible Frontline Covid Workers – Waste Pickers Hasiru Dala wants to raise funds for Help India’s Most Invisible Frontline Covid Workers – Waste Pickers. Your donation has the power to help them move closer to their goal amount. Please contribute.

SweepSmart Project Showcase: a brand new waste sorting facility for Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group in Delhi.

A nice story of how things can come together. Chintan was the first organization we met in 2015 in India, who had set up a waste collection and sorting system run by a waste picker's cooperative in Delhi. They had an inventive manual conveyor belt system where the team was sitting in a long line and pushing the waste through to the next person.

Then, the time was not yet ripe for our involvement to mechanize this. But now, we have delivered them a brand new sorting facility which brings their operations to a next level!

We delivered them a turn-key solution, from design, to installing the equipment and supporting the construction works, until training the workers to operate this 'waste factory'. With supported them to overcome challenges in the construction phase to ensure the centre would be build properly. It was a great pleasure to work with one of the most renown waste and waste picker's organisations in India!