Brazil produces rubbish as if it was a rich nation, but still disposes it like an underdeveloped country. In large cities, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, each Brazilian produces an average of 1.2 kg of rubbish per day and forty-one per cent of urban waste produced is still disposed of without being treated, often in open-air landfills. To tackle the long existing problem, a startup, New Hope Ecotech, the waste picker cooperatives, was established just over a year ago as the brainchild of two young managers in São Paulo: Luciana Oliveira and Thiago Carvalho Pinto.

New Hope Ecotech’s business plan is to use software solutions for data management so that companies producing consumer goods pay the pickers for the volume of waste that they remove from the environment and return to the production process. Everything is recorded in an online system, which provides real-time transparency to the process. The seed capital for the company came from a $70,000 prize from Kellogg itself, which has incentives for students who stand out in leadership and entrepreneurship.

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Startup brings technology and cooperatives together to engage companies in waste management