The problem
As of 2018, more than five million tonnes of waste are generated each year in Côte d’Ivoire, and this is expected to double by 2030. Less than half of the current waste is being collected and only about three per cent is being recycled, with the rest primarily ending up in open landfills or in the streets.
The company
Coliba is a web, mobile and SMS platform that connects households and businesses with Colibaaffiliated, trained and equipped plastic waste pickers. In exchange for plastic waste, users receive points that can be converted into airtime. Plastic waste is converted into pellets in Coliba’s local factory and then sold to local plastic-based industries.
Project description
Coliba received a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund in November 2018 to deploy a large-scale, mobile-supported plastic recycling value chain in 10 districts in Abidjan (about three million people) to collect, recycle and resell plastic waste from households and businesses.
Impact
As of January 2020, Coliba has over 21,400 users registers on the platform and over 303,000kg of plastic waste has been collected.
Donor(s)
Partnerships
