Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

In 2011, Ghislain Irakoze (CEO) and his best friend survived a garbage landslide accident. After such a tragic incident, we embarked on the journey of creating a waste-free world specifically by changing community consumption behaviour. Wastezon was registered on 30th July 2018 but became fully operational in January 2019. While 2 million tons of e-waste are generated in Africa annually, the consumption behaviour and production system are oriented in a linear economic model where waste is generated contributing to global emissions and sanitation challenges. Wastezon is changing the consumption and production system by providing the Wastezon app, which assists the manufacturers and recycling actors to outsource their raw materials while on the other hand helping the households (domestic & institutional) to get rid of their e-waste by selling them. Backed by mineralogical laser scan technology, the app detects the mineralogical content of e-waste, providing an array of minerals contents and their provenance levels, hence allowing households to get price transparency. The app also assists them in proper sorting, tracing the e-waste materials throughout the value chain and providing route optimization for manufacturers recyclers for their e-waste reverse logistics. So far, over 1800 Rwandan Households, 122 recyclers and manufacturers that use our app. Over 580 tons of e-waste have been transacted on our app. We are influencing the industries to shift the repurposing of material rather than mining virgin materials. Consumers are also able to shift from the use-dump model to the use-resell-recycle model which diverts waste from going to landfills.

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Wastezon is a youth-led social enterprise. Both the founders Ghislain Irakoze (male, 22 years old) and Jacqueline Mukarukundo (female, 25 years) are energetic young people passionate about leading climate initiatives. Of 12 employees, 8 are young people who are under 30 years old. 1 employee identifies himself as an indigenous Maasai. 5 of the 12 employees are female and all of them are under 30 years old. All the team members are people of color. 

As part of the communities we serve, 81$ consider themselves as middle and low-income households. 77% of communities are located in climate-vulnerable communities including areas near Nduba landfill, Rwanda‚ largest waste landfill.

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