ecoins (Accelerator)

Company Description: Ecoins tackles the low recycling rates in Latin America by addressing the challenges experienced by three main stakeholders: • Collection centers: By 2018 only 4.5% of waste in Latin America is recycled, in large part due to the fact that most waste management systems still lack the capacity to collect recoverable waste separately. • Producers: Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is starting to gain traction in LATAM, and companies are taking significant steps to recover the materials they put into the market and use recyclable materials in their packaging (eg. Pepsico, Nestlé). However, they are facing collection bottlenecks. • Consumers: They are progressively more aware of the need to do responsible consumption. But because municipal waste collection / management systems haven't shown leadership in recycling, many citizens willing to recycle lack the basic knowledge, means or incentives to do so. Through an online platform (app + web) as well as communication and educational campaigns, ecoins incentivizes the consumer to separate waste and take it to existing community or municipal collection centers, rewarding them with the ecoins currency which can be exchanged for discounts and promotions from partners.