KOLEKT waste management app hits 10 thousand transactions

The KOLEKT waste management app, developed by Circular Action, a BVRio group company, has reached 10 thousand transactions. In the 18 months since the app was launched, it has gained over 1000 users in 48 countries. They are actors throughout the recycling supply chain, including informal waste pickers, who assisted in its design and have been testing it […]
200T of waste removed from Guanabara Bay

Our circular economy team has celebrated the milestone of 200 tons of waste collected with the fishers involved in the ‘Fishing for litter in Guanabara Bay’ project and honoured them for International Fisherman’s Day, celebrated on 29 June. The day of recognition highlights this traditional craft’s role in combating ocean pollution, with each piece of […]
Circular Action joins AEPW to address plastic waste recovery and collection in Brazil

Circular Action has been successfully collaborating with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) to promote the recovery, collection, and improved destination of plastic waste in Brazil. Last week, as part of our ongoing efforts, our circular economy team joined representatives from the South America Regional Task Group of the AEPW to present our work […]
Digitising the waste supply chain in Mozambique & Angola

The KOLEKT app is now in the hands of various different types of users in Mozambique and Angola, as part of the first phase of the study and pilot project to establish if a digital waste management solution could improve waste collection and recycling in Southern Africa. During March and April, Circular Action Director, Thierry Sanders, visited the countries to begin […]
Digital waste management solution study and pilots for African countries underway

Circular Action is undertaking a study and pilot to establish if a digital waste management solution could improve waste collection and recycling in Southern Africa, starting with Angola and Mozambique. The five-month long study builds on Circular Action’s experience of waste management in developing countries, and its project using the KOLEKT waste management app in […]
Project Update: Used Beverage Carton Recycling in Vietnam

Lesson #1: Innovation requires flexibility. Reflections from Circular Action Director, Thierry Sanders on the first few months of the project, and turning things on their head. ‘Trickle down economics’ doesn’t work. It may have been a term commonly heard by economics students born before 1980. But even in 2022 in Saigon, Vietnam this outdated economic […]
First year for KOLEKT waste management app sees 5400 tonnes of recyclables sold

The KOLEKT waste management app has just turned one, and what a year it’s been! We set out to get the app into the hands of the very people who helped design it, informal waste pickers, and to test it in real world environments. In three different countries, in four very different situations we’ve honed […]
Pilot project encourages households in Rio de Janeiro to recycle more

A waste recycling cooperative in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is participating in a pilot project run by Circular Action Hub founder BVRio and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) to encourage higher levels of recycling by households. The project will also provide additional income to waste pickers who sort the material, with the potential […]
Circular Action presents solutions to waste collection in two global circularity events

“It is time to increase collection in a socially inclusive way.” – Thierry Sanders Last week, the Circular Action team, Director Thierry Sanders and Circular Economy specialist, Maria Accioly, flew to participate in two brilliant circularity events taking place in Berlin, Germany, and in Quito, Ecuador, run by PREVENT Waste Alliance and Sustainable Challenge LATAM. They […]
Sofas bogged down in the mangroves of Guanabara Bay; a look into Rio’s seacoast swamped with mattresses and upholstered furniture

Fishers are pulling an astonishing amount of upholstered furniture from the mud as they look for recyclable materials. Following the work of our project ‘Fishing for litter in Guanabara Bay’, one concern comes to the fore. We have been surprised by the amount of sofas, armchairs, mattresses and upholstery being removed from the mangroves by […]