The problem being addressed;
The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually and at least 33% of that is not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Global waste arising from electrical and electronic equipment alone increased from 33.8 to 49.8 tonnes between 2010 and 2018 yet incineration, upcycling, and other informal waste management techniques that result in adding to landfills are still widely applied.
To improve sustainable development in entrepreneurship, manufacturing companies can utilize and learn about other possible reducing, reusing, and recycling options for their waste.
Design proposals/solutions
Create an online platform for waste management that provides the following services:
a) E-market for buying and swapping industrial waste.
On the platform, manufacturing companies can buy or swap other companies’ would-be waste for reuse purposes.
b) A sustainability knowledge bank/village.
The platform shall enable companies that have already taken sustainable measures to share their knowledge on how to do it and even leave some tips so that all companies can do it
c) Sustainable practices transition support.
Provide consultation for sustainable business practices transition. This can be provided by companies that have already attained a significant degree of sustainable business practices.
Expected benefits
i) Companies needing materials for manufacture may not need to use up raw materials and could instead source the same materials sustainably and at a cheaper rate.
ii) Large quantities of waste materials can be located together which decreases costs for sorting waste and sourcing raw materials.
iii) Our platform will allow both sellers and buyers to find each other conveniently and exchange knowledge, ideas, and waste product specifications.
Thank you @Jillian Henderson
lets think about it in that perspective.
Hi there, to mirror the comments above - great job! Something I would think about in more detail is
"Provide consultation for sustainable business practices transition. This can be provided by companies that have already attained a significant degree of sustainable business practices. "
What is the incentive for this? Think practically what the benefits of knowledge sharing are.
Otherwise, keep up the good work,
Jillian
Thank you Krishnan.
My, i confirm if the final submission is supposed to be a fully developed platform or just the well-detailed concept is adequate.
Hi there. I think your idea is really well thought out. You've laid it out really clearly as well. Great job!
I don't think there is anything I would change about your pitch. But in terms of next steps, the first thing I would do is to run a quick cost comparison for virgin vs. reclaimed/waste materials for a few key construction products. Surprisingly, waste materials are not always cheaper. In this case, try to quantify the sustainability benefits you offer. "By using ___ quantity of waste material, you are saving ___ tonnes of CO2 emissions, which would cost _____ to offset". Companies think in terms of money. You have to be able to convince them that even if their operating costs increase due to the use of reclaimed materials, they can increase sales by being more sustainable.
Another thing I would do is to connect with companies that already use waste materials to generate new products. There are organisations that make bricks out of plastic waste, roads out of old tyres, etc. Get in touch with them and find out how they obtain their waste material. See if there are any inefficiencies in their procurement process. Try to design your online marketplace to address these gaps.
This is a really exciting proposal and I would love to see it developed further. All the best!