SweepSmart

30/11/2023

We’re excited to share…. 🥁:
The Premiere of our Smart Waste Collective short documentary (7 min) 🎥 . It shows the terrors of in remote islands like Ambon in Indonesia. And a potential solution ♻️.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/oKePRYrO8ck

SweepSmart with the partners of the Plastic in Circles consortium has set up:

🧑‍🎓 Source segregation at 2000 households and education at schools
🚮 Waste drop-off in coloured bins at collection points designed by local students
🚛 An innovative waste collection model with a compactor truck that transports the waste 2-4 times more efficiently and drastically improves safety & hygiene
♻️ A smart waste sorting facility that sorts 12 tons per day, ready for recycling by local partner Indonesia
👷 28 green, safe and healthy jobs created for the waste workers

Watching the video made all of our team proud, even a bit emotional 🥹. Thank you Rohith Kumar K H , Rob Tholenaars, Lotte de Koning, , Sandy Indriana , Saskia Werther, , , Niels van den Hoek, Silvia de Vaan for your endless spirit, perseverance and creativity to get things done.

And thank you to all partners who made this possible MVO Nederland P4G Partnerships Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland - RVO Geesinknorba Green Moluccas Indonesia Indonesia Umincorp Jobs Enviu The Ocean Cleanup CLEAR RIVERSS ! UpCycling Plastic bv The Great Bubble Barrier

There are so many videos shared of the problem - let’s work on a solution! 👊

SweepSmart together with the partners of the Plastics in Circles consortium has set up a Smart Waste Collection Model and Sorting Facility in Ambon Island, I...

02/09/2022

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

26/08/2022

“Plastic in Circles” program in action: best practices for Indonesia
Highlights of our work and trade mission with 30+ Dutch and Indonesian partners

Highlight 2: On-ground action

Meetings and celebrations are great, but at SweepSmart we love to pull up our sleeves and get to work. Especially in a place like Ambon Island, where the pristine marine ecosystem is being threatened by and circular waste management solutions are still in early stages due to its remote character.

Today we got the opportunity to do a short sorting trial, one of the methods we use to test in a very early stage of a project whether a certain set-up will work once implemented. Also, we took the consortium partners for a sneak preview of what we call our ‘Day in the Life Of’ research: working alongside the waste workers on-ground to really understand how they work and what are their bottlenecks. And of course, we inspected the intended sites for the new sorting facility and collection areas.

Looking forward to continue our on-ground action with KOTA Ambon, Dutch government, P4G, Green Moluccas, PT Million Limbah Ambon, Geesinknorba MVO Nederland TNO, Rebel Group, UpCycling Plastic, Umincorp Jobs Enviu - Innovators in sustainability, The Ocean Cleanup, The Great Bubble Barrier, CLEAR RIVERS, EcoBali - Waste Management, Education and Products, PT.Sumber Djaja Perkasa, Waste4Change, ADUPI

Read our previous highlight here: https://www.facebook.com/sweepsmart/posts/378591114445410

19/08/2022

19/08/2022

best practices for Indonesia? This week the heat is on: the “Plastic in Circles” program in action!

SweepSmart is on a work and trade mission in with 30+ Dutch and Indonesian partners of the ‘Plastic in Circles’ (PiCi) program. The aim of the program is to implement best practices across the plastics value chain to in Indonesia. Five projects from better household and river waste collection to stimulating circular procurement. We will update you regularly on this week full of meetings, celebrations, working sessions, field visits and even a small pilot.

HIGHLIGHT 1: Battling plastic waste in a country of more than 17,000 islands
Why this project? Indonesia is ranked as having the 2nd largest amount of plastic leakage to the ocean in the world. Many organisations have jumped on this issue, but mostly on the main islands and economic areas like Java and Bali.

Managing waste on islands in East-Indonesia is tough. Remoteness from recycling and processing facilities poses logistical challenges and increases transportation costs. PiCi project 1 focuses on Ambon Island, which has pristine coral reefs, lush mountain areas and mangrove forests that are heavily polluted with waste. The narrow and unpaved roads are difficult to cover with collection services. At least 25% of the waste leaks into the environment and with only 2% being recycled, the majority of the waste ends up in a growing landfill.

PiCi project 1, funded by P4G and supported by the Dutch government, will implement new collection models with waste compactors from Geesinknorba and a SweepSmart modern and efficient waste sorting facility, to create a replicable model for islands across South-East Asia.

Let’s fight this battle together! KOTA Ambon, Dutch government, Green Moluccas, PT Million Limbah Ambon, Geesinknorba, MVO Nederland, TNO, Rebel Group, P4G, Alliance to End Plastic Waste, UpCycling Plastic, Umincorp Jobs, Enviu - Innovators in sustainability, The Ocean Cleanup, The Great Bubble Barrier, CLEAR RIVERS, PT.Sumber Djaja Perkasa, Waste4Change, EcoBali - Waste Management, Education and Products, ADUPI

11/01/2022

The year 2021 was yet another incredible year for SweepSmart. We celebrated our 5th birthday, established a new branding and logo and cultivated many more global partnerships.

As we look back at 2021, we also take a moment to remember the devastating impact of COVID in India and around the world on our team, supporters and waste workers. We sincerely hope that working collectively we can overcome it this year.

While we continue our efforts in Asia, 2021 was a year to venture into the African continent. With a less developed waste and recycling industry, we find even more plastics in nature there. Topped with challenges in finding (local) equipment suppliers, the potential for SweepSmart to support the industry to mature and grow is tremendous.

With deep gratitude towards our customers, partners, and team, we can’t wait to start on an even more exciting 2022.

WISHING EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022!!!

18/08/2021

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/

12/08/2021

Five years of ‘Turning waste into happiness’: our story told by our first 3 changemakers!

Started by Silvia and Niels after visiting a waste mountain in India, SweepSmart is on a mission to build zero-waste ecosystems for upcoming economies. Our new identity and a stronger offering only adds more excitement to what our team, like Rohith likes to do: supporting our clients and partners through every stage of the zero waste journey.

We believe in customising European waste management best practices and striking the right balance between mechanisation and manual labour. In essence: to create jobs for waste workers to be proud of!

Listen to our story from these 3 changemakers.

28/07/2021

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

01/05/2021

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.



https://lnkd.in/dT5kkjd

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.

25/03/2021

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!

16/02/2021

Our world is only 8.6% , and this is how SweepSmart is working to close the . Watch the video to hear our achievements in building zero-waste ecosystems in upcoming economies - in 86 seconds. Thanks to Circle Economy for inviting us to be part of this series and writing the great .