The place I live doesn’t have any kind of waste management. Not even dustbins. There is a growing waste management crisis but factor like politics and lobbies have been termed as reason why there aren’t any.
I work in tech space, not in waste management but this is something I really want to see executed. I have implemented smart dustbins in a project at another country is my only reference. Smart dustbins would probably be out of local budget and I doubt it would be okayed as part of solution.
I have some scientific contacts and local govt contacts who’ve given a green light to a proposal. I’m wondering how effective it would be as a business model and if it’s something I could pull off as a team of four engineers. Maybe roll out in management in small steps? Would my customer base would be the govt? Does that work?
If nothing, I just want dustbins to be set up in primary locations.
Really appreciate feedback in the form of criticism, experience or insights, thank you.
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There’s a couple big ones in the US. Of those, Rubicon was a nice SPAC pump and dump, but Roadrunner Recycling might be a genuinely strong company. There’s also all kinds of waste management SaaS and IoT companies out there (e.g. Sensoneo in Europe).
So yeah it’s possible. But if you’re just picking up trash, probably wouldn’t go the VC route.
Be very careful about how and where you do this. Waste management consulting is a thing (in NJ at least)
I think you need to focus on the core problem, product, and the industry rather than how many “engineers” you need to hire—I.E. this is something that will require more than software makers to build and operate. You mention politics as a known blocker… so I think more thought on the strategy is needed.
Yeah appreciate your insight. I don’t enough insight about the industry. I’ll work on that.
It really depends on who the customer is and in most cases that’s local government. The problem is local govt is probably the hardest customer to sell into as sales cycles can often be up to a year plus. You’ll also be competing against the municipal workers who are already hired to do that work, which makes it an even tougher sell.
Well I guess it can work if you have a side business mr Soprano
cool idea! shoot me a PM i might be able to help
Hm, this isn’t on the operational side, just a business I wish someone would start.
There’s a tremendous amount of resources stored in waste. Many of them are very valuable resources! But it’s energy expensive to extract. And no one wants like a nuclear power plant near them.
So, find somewhere far from everyone else, stable government, etc. Build out some sustainable source of power. Ship the waste over, and start extracting.
No idea whether our extraction efficiency or energy costs even out, though, so this might be a waste idea right now ;)