Open Marketplace for Procuring Used & Recycled Plastics Online
Up to 9.948 tons of plastic waste in Uganda is uncollected annually, according to a study conducted under the GKMA PET Plastic Recycling Partnership. 11 percent of this ends up directly into water bodies. According to research conducted by the World Climate School's Uganda chapter, more than 75% of used plastic bottles end up in landfills, lakes, and rivers, which is seriously damaging to the environment.
This problem is not peculiar to Uganda alone. Most African countries, as well as most parts of the developing world, face similar issues.
It is not uncommon to find plastic waste (and other forms of waste) littered in public places. Most waste collectors barely earn a living wage, as they only sell to middlemen who pay them ridiculously low amounts. Also, many individuals are not incentivized to properly recycle waste, and litter them indiscriminately. At the same time, companies find it difficult to access reliable sources of used and recycled plastics, due to limited supply of properly collected waste materials, and the lack of proper infrastructure for collection and cleanups.
EcoMarket wants to incentivize recycling and clean storage of used plastics, and also provide companies with reliable and transparent sources of recycled materials.
EcoMarket is an open marketplace that directly connects buyers of used and recycled plastics with individuals and businesses who want to donate or sell them.
Visit EcoMarket at https://www.ecomarketapp.xyz
To use the platform, companies that need recycled materials can request for these materials, and stake TRON (equivalent to the quantity of recycled or used plastics required) in a smart contract-powered escrow.
Recyclers & collectors are then notified of the company's requests, and can gather plastics, deposit them in a collection center, and earn rewards from the TRON escrowed by the company, after a 48-hour cool-down period.
Each request and dropoff is weighed and recorded with picture proof, and recorded on the TRON blockchain for traceability and verification.
In the future, apart from the tokens earned, organizations who participate in the marketplace earn the EcoCredit NFT, a signal of their commitment to environmental sustainability.
While EcoMarket is free for now, for the future, we plan on EcoMarket receiving a tiny percentage of the total amount disbursed for each request.
Watch the EcoMarket Demo Video
On the EcoMarket landing page, click on Get Started, and select Company.
Connect your TronLink wallet
As a new user, you're required to set your profile.
Lock some TRX in your escrow wallet, which will be used to automatically pay out rewards to collectors who have successfully delivered the plastics.
You can also withdraw from your escrow wallet, any amount not currently locked in any ongoing offers.
Go to your Dashboard, and create an offer.
An offer is a request for plastics to be delivered to a specific collection center in a particular locality. Enter your offer details, including the amount, quantity required, etc...
Once an offer is created, you will not be able to withdraw from your escrow wallet any amount locked within the offer.
This offer is then broadcasted via email (and in the future, SMS) to all collectors within the locality of the collection center you've selected.
Once collectors have indicated interest, you'll need to approve each of their delivery requests. You will sign the approval with your TronLink wallet.
After approval, once a delivery has been marked as complete by the collector, you can view the details of their delivery, including the proof of delivery.
Once completed by the collector, as the company, you have 48 hours to raise a dispute (work-in-progress).
If you raise a dispute, the collector will be unable to withdraw the tokens.
If no dispute is raised, the funds will be withdrawn from your escrow and deposited in the collector's wallet.
On the EcoMarket landing page, click on Get Started, and select Collector.
Then, connect your TronLink wallet (in the future, collectors will be able to create accounts with just their emails or social accounts).
As a new user, you're required to set your profile. As a collector, you will also need to select your location from one of our supported locations.
Once a new offer has been sent by a company for delivery within your locality, you will be notified via email. You can also visit your dashboard to view these offers.
View the offer details, and click "Fulfill Request" to indicate your interest. Enter the quantity of plastic you'd like to deliver.
The company will be notified, and can then approve your request.
Once approved, go to the collection center and deliver the plastics. Upload proof as part of your delivery.
After a cool-off period (48 hours), if no dispute has been raised, you can claim the funds for the delivery within your escrow wallet.
A deep-dive into EcoMarket's features, application architecture, and roadmap can be found in the following Notion doc:
Supply-driven Marketplace (where a user can upload plastics, or other scrap items available for sale)
a. Amount Negotiation (allows the company rep. to negotiate the amount for items uploaded by the recycler)
b. Recycler-Company Chat
c. Request for Samples (companies request for samples from recycler)
d. Suggested Pricing
One-on-One Matching (match companies with recyclers directly)