Waste from the world’s largest Carnival event went digital for the first time with Kolekt

Two of the nine waste cooperatives that BVRio is helping to professionalise in Rio de Janeiro have started receiving support to digitise their waste flow through the Kolekt app.

The KOLEKT waste management app just turned one, and is now in the hands of the very people who helped design it, informal waste pickers. In three different countries, in four very different situations, the app was honed and tested, achieving a total of 7,200 transactions between waste pickers, waste buyers and recyclers, resulting in the sale of 5,400 tonnes of recyclables in Vietnam, Brazil and Mozambique.

Often deemed hard to recycle, beverage cartons are the focus of a new initiative run by Kolekt and BVRio in partnership with Tetra Pak and Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam). The project will not only provide a recycling solution, but will also deliver additional income to around 200 informal waste pickers.