Rita Idehai is a geoscientist turned social entrepreneur whose vision is to ensure that every urban household across Nigeria gets connected to a sustainable waste management platform. As founder at Ecobarter – a sustainable waste management company – Rita consistently works to help entrepreneurs and organisations make social impact where it matters the most. In a recent LinkedIn post, Rita shares the groundbreaking capabilities of the reverse vending machine – a machine that allows insertion of recyclable material in exchange for a reward – locally and proudly built by her team.
Twenty months and three tech teams later, we are ready for the world to experience the Reverse Vending Machine that we have built from Abuja Nigeria!
My team and I at The Ecobarter Company have been leading formal last-mile recycling collection in Nigeria for six years, so we know firsthand how interested people are in giving their wastes for recycling. However, issues such as low volumes, lack of space, unattractive incentives and access to recyclers that take such small volumes that households generate on demand always made even the most interested people trash their recyclables.
While Reverse vending machines are a staple in Europe, the high cost of acquisition and lack of unified deposit return schemes have made reverse vending machines almost impossible in Nigeria & Africa, until we did the unthinkable!.
As a largely non-technical team in 2022, it almost looked impossible but here we are, ready for the world to come test what we have and help us build to perfection.
Our Ecobarter RVM S02 collects, counts, weighs, crushes and rewards empty plastic bottles and beverage cans. You can also communicate with it in any of English, Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba.
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