Regenize

Making recycling accessible, inclusive and rewarding
2021 SEED Low Carbon Awards; IKI BMU
Waste Management
Cape Town
South Africa

Regenize provides a freemium recycling service. In lower-income communities, the service is free to residents and in middle-upper communities, residents, business and apartment blocks pay them a monthly fee to collect their recyclables.

They provide informal waste collectors with decentralised community-based recycling hubs for them to operate, PPE, recycling tricycles and access to clean recyclables. Once collected and sorted, Regenize purchase the recycled materials and sells them in bulk to waste processors. There are two future revenue streams; marketing on tricycles as they expand and selling fair or ethically traded recyclable material.

Eco-inclusive Impacts
Regenize recycled and diverted and 231 tonnes of waste from the landfill, thereby avoiding 492 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. They increased incomes for informal waste collectors by 15% on average and have formalised their work by giving them access to bank cards.
  • Training youth from the local communities and giving them a source of income for signing up households to the service
  • Creating cleaner spaces for the community
  • Empowering women through employment
  • Diverting 231 tonnes of waste from the landfill
  • Avoiding 492 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere by diverting waste from landfill
  • Supporting waste pickers to collect up to 200% more recyclables in a day
  • Created 7 jobs opportunities within the team and 9 roles for informal waste collectors
  • Ensuring 15% income increase for informal waste collectors
  • Providing collectors with bank cards to formalise waste collectors

Partners

Regenize is a recycling solution on a mission to make recycling accessible, inclusive and rewarding. The enterprise provides a freemium recycling collection that rewards residents with Remali, a virtual currency, to purchase various vouchers.

SAB Foundation offers mentorship to the business. Regenize won the 2019 SAB Foundation Social Innovation Awards and received an investment of R1.3m.

GreenCape provides them with marketing assistance, business plan development, finance facilitation and business mentorship.