The Natural world has an elaborate cyclical model that guarantees the flow of energy, information, and matter. Plants and animals use the sun’s energy to live, grow and then die, returning the nutrients back to the soil safely. The natural world has no landfill rather one species wastes are another species food.
However, Humans have tremendously disrupted this process in the last 500 years. The Industrial Revolution, which brought about mass consumerism, generated inorganic wastes that envelop our lands, rivers, and seas. Citing the practices of our daily life, we dispose of our old phone when we buy a new model phone or we dispose of our old fridge if we buy a new one. We are only using valuable finite resources to produce consumable goods along with toxic waste. For the most part of our modern history, have adopted the linear approach of energy utilization in which we: Take, Make and Dispose. Hence we need to re-think the usage of our production and energy so we operate in a circular economy.
The philosophy of the circular economy is to re-define the concept of economic activity and economic growth through a cyclical module where we will re-think, re-design, re-use, re-manufacture, refurbish and recycle our energy, resources, products and waste.
For any good philosophy or practices to work, we must test its commercial appeal. Many noble innovations, engineering and ideas have failed because they were not profitable. In the case of the Circular economy, it is essential to ponder on how we can build capital from our wastes.
That’s where ‘Kabaadi at your doorstep’ comes in. ‘Kabaadi at your doorstep’ is a handy App which assists you in finding the nearest scrap dealer in your location, upload the information about your recyclables and get the best possible value for your scraps.
Every day wastes such as Plastic, Paper, Metal, Glass, and E-waste lying in your stores and waste bins can be a novel way to earn extra money from the comfort of your homes.
“Kabaadi at your doorstep” has meticulously pinpointed the location of waste workers (scrap dealers and collectors) near your location in the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kirtipur. Once you upload a picture of your waste and confirm the sale, the nearest scrap collector will arrive at your doorstep to collect and give the best price for your recyclables.
In Nepal’s case, there is a big problem but a bigger opportunity. The Sisdol landfill site in Nuwakot which holds the throwaway waste of the Kathmandu valley is getting short of space. Reports claim that in a few years, denizens of Kathmandu valley will have to look for new landfill sites. As the population is increasing exponentially in cities like Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Birgunj and Biratnagar; these metropolitans are also burdened to manage or search for new landfill sites in the coming years.
Landfill sites are just a temporary solution to a perpetual problem. A study conducted in 2012 regarding average municipal solid waste generation in Nepal’s 58 municipalities found that Nepal’s municipalities produce 1,435 tons of solid waste per day and 524,000 tons of solid waste per year. In average, the solid waste generated per capita was 317 grams per day. These figures are only going to rise in the coming years.
We are constantly barraging our landfills with plastic, metals and E-wastes (Computers, laptops, and phones). These wastes can be recycled to form raw materials that can fuel our production industry. Because the general populace of Nepal is not aware of the segregation of waste, millions of rupees worth of valuable raw materials and resources are being dumped in landfills.
“Kabaadi at your doorstep” has a vision of championing the cause of waste segregation. Plastics, Metals and E-waste’s that dominate our landfills are scraps that can be easily recycled. Our Industries are increasing imports of raw materials every year that causes our economy to suffer a dink in the Balance of trade.
Recycling and Re-use can greatly cut down costs for our economy in the buying of raw materials and management of wastes. Conversely for this noble dream to come true, “Kabaadi at your doorstep” has realized to educate the daily consumers on waste segregation. One of the goals of the app is to educate the audience that there are health, economic and social gains of waste segregation and recycling.
By rethinking and redesigning products, components and packaging they come in, we can create safe and compostable resources that help us create or grow more products. Our daily commodities such as Plastics, glasses, mobile phones, washing machines, laptops, are non-biodegradable.
Nevertheless, we can recycle valuable metals, polymers and alloys of these products so they maintain their quality and continue to be useful beyond the shelf life of individual products. The “Kabaadi at your doorstep” App is providing a market for buying and selling recyclables. The waste that the scrap collectors buy from the populace is segregated and sent to recycling facilities all over the country. The Goal of the app is to work closely with waste workers so that waste of today can be the resource for tomorrow.
In contrast to our throwaway and replace culture, we adopt a return and renew one where products and components are designed to be disassembled and regenerated. This process makes commercial sense, if we can design a process where the products come back to their makers, their technical materials being reused and their biological parts used to increase agricultural value. Each product is its own raw material and its own waste being re-used for perpetuity.
Join the Kabaadi community, Be a part of the Circular Economy now!
By: Ahana Shrestha
