In June 2020, WasteAid embarked upon an innovative and expansive programme in partnership with Huhtamaki to support circular economy solutions to the waste crisis in three locations: Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Guwahati in India and Johannesburg, South Africa.
The programme achieved WasteAid’s Circular Economy Networks which attracted over 1,000 members attending online webinars and training. The partnership supported 36 entrepreneurs through tailored business training and mentoring and 6 entrepreneurs were awarded with 10,000 Euros each of seed funding. Those supported included a plastics recycling enterprise in India, an organics and composting enterprise in South Africa and an app developer in Vietnam aiming to make waste collection more accessible and efficient.
Nearly 200 Huhtamaki employees were engaged in activities to support the partnership in the different locations. The partnership aimed to bring together diverse stakeholders in localities to build and share knowledge in waste and recycling activities, to facilitate discussions and collaboration between those at different points in the waste value chain and to practically support and finance local entrepreneurs and innovators ‘wastepreneurs’.
The programme recognised the lack of municipal waste systems, the private sector and even more the informal sector fill that gap. The networks were rooted in community responses. The innovators and entrepreneurs that were supported also had a social value element, for example offering employment potential to those in a lower socio-economic bracket or providing finance to young innovators from deprived areas who would not be able to access traditional finance.
Huhtamaki’s partnership with WasteAid is now financing an entrepreneur’s fund focused on those on the first rung of the waste value chain. The approach taken by Huhtamaki and WasteAid has captured the imagination of other funders keen to implement a meaningful sustainability strategy and the initial circular economy network model has been adapted and exported by WasteAid to two further countries, Gambia and Egypt and extended further in South Africa.
The initiative boasted a successful approach in Johannesburg. In Egypt, a more geographically targeted approach was taken and the network was launched in Aswan, working again with local structures and the existing value chain. The Egyptian model mirrors the initial programme, however, has a focus on flexible plastics only as opposed to multiple waste streams.
Overall, the core elements of the Circular Economy Network approach have proven a particularly impactful mix and WasteAid aims to evolve its programme design in future. However, the multiplier effect is clear to see, that initial ambitious vision developed by Huhtamaki and WasteAid continues to be developed and delivered throughout Africa, impacting thousands of individuals, hundreds of communities and dozens of circular economy enterprises.