Wayste

The Philippines has the most biodiverse marine life on Earth. Wayste aims to increase waste diversion rate in the Philippines and Asia and the success of the app is going to have direct effect for the protection of Philippine marine biodiversity.

Its immediate aim is to help save Manila Bay and 911.7 square kilometer Laguna Lake from pollution and eutrophication generated by 12.9 million citizens of Metro Manila. Both of Manila Bay and Laguna Lake are adjacent to Metro Manila, one on each West and East sides. The long-term aim is to use experience generated with this immediate challenge in managing solid waste generated by 105 million Filipinos all over the Philippines.

The system is much more than “Uber” for trash pick-up. The aim is not only to link all stakeholders within communities along Manila Bay. In addition to this aim, the proponents aim to strengthen the linkage at the level of the communities as to be very personal to all involved. In the long-term run, this makes the system sustainable profitable.

One level of the app is community level where use of the app is for free and the linkages are incentivized in as many ways as possible. The other level is the enterprise level where the government administered enterprises are monitored, and the enterprises interested in the recyclables and useful wastes participate. It is along the enterprise level that the business model is mostly, but not exclusively, expected to earn enough revenues as to help make the system sustainable.

The project immediately benefits pushcart solid waste scavengers who are going to be furnished mobile phone units that link them to households within the areas they ply.

The project also immediately benefits the households as they get to have, for example, an efficient way of disposing recyclables like plastic bottles, scrap metals, cartons, newspapers, and papers. Then eventually, more types of wastes can be collected such as kitchen wastes and bulk solid wastes like old refrigerators, bed mattresses, car tires, and such stuff that current collectors do not touch.

The system also addresses the following.

• SCAVENGERS RECOVER RECYCLABLES BUT ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY ANYONE;

• HOUSEHOLDS HAVE DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES– DAYSHIFT AND NIGHTSHIFT JOBS – THUS THE DIFFICULTY MATCHING HAULER SCHEDULES;

• ESTABLISHMENT OF MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES, NOT CONSISTENTLY ENFORCED EVEN WITH R.A. 9003 REQUIRING IT;

• BUSINESSES INADEQUATE ACCESS TO WASTE HAULERS WHO CAN TRANSPORT BUSINESS WASTES;

• BUSINESSES HAVE INADEQUATE ACCESS TO BUYERS/SELLERS OF WASTE IN LARGE VOLUMES;

• WASTE HAULERS, SADDLED WITH SUCH ISSUES AS NARROW STREETS, HEAVY TRAFFIC AND UNPREDICTABLE AMOUNT OF GARBAGE; AND,

• GOVERNANCE-WISE, INADEQUATE MONITORING OF GOVT-CONTRACTED COMPANIES.

The system is meant to solve the wicked problem of solid waste management involving the complex system of political, economic and cultural dimensions of Philippine Society. There is no expectation that the app is a one-time solution. Instead, the app is only the first step of the many steps envisioned by the proponents in preparation for a time when Artificial General Intelligence can then be used to address such a wicked problem.

There is no pretense that the system is expected to bring quick return of investment. Instead, the expectation is to take on the wicked problem of solid waste management with a one-step-at-a-time process that promises a solution compatible with AGI in the future at a time of crisis the proponents foresee.