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 But even in 2022 in Saigon, Vietnam this outdated economic […]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 […]
Tetra Pak carton recycling initiative begins in Vietnam benefitting hundreds of informal waste pickers
Often deemed hard to recycle, beverage cartons are the focus of a new initiative run by Circular Action, a BVRio group company, in partnership with Tetra Pak and Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam), which will not only provide a recycling solution, but which will also deliver additional income to potentially hundreds of informal waste […]
Flip-flops, upholstery foam, plastic and sofas – the surprising catches Guanabara Bay fishers are making
Introducing a series of articles on the project ‘Fishing for litter in Guanabara Bay’ Since April this year, the second phase of our ‘Fishing for litter’ project has been supporting 25 families from Ilha do Governador, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to remove waste from Guanabara Bay. To show the development of this social and […]
Cover story for Brazilian ‘fishing for plastic’ initiative
Fishers from Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are getting another living from the sea: fishing for waste. BVRio’s project in partnership with the Italian social enterprise Ogyre featured on the cover of O Globo, a mainstream newspaper in Brazil, over the weekend. The reporter Ludmilla Lima went to meet the fishers, who are now earning a […]