This Abu Dhabi Startup is Offering Rewards for Recycling
From restaurant meals to shopping vouchers, “The Smart Bin” is set to allow UAE residents the chance to swap their waste for prizes.
Set to be prototyped across UAE in the coming months, The Smart Bin has emerged as a unique solution for both promoting and putting waste reduction and recycling in viable practice. The Smart Bin is launched by the green startup “Cycled,” co-founded by Ayoola Brimmo, Benedikt Pilscheur, Sverre Minnesjord and Matteo Chiesa.
Fusing artificial intelligence with mobile technology, the bin invites recyclers to give over plastic, metal and glass, which the bin weighs and identifies via a picture database. The bin then tells the user the carbon emissions that have been saved and racks up points on a personal account that can be used for entry into a prize draw that offers everything from restaurant meals to shopping vouchers.
Previous versions of The Smart Bin have been trialled in isolated occasions, including the DP World Tour Golf Championship in November 2018 and the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show in October 2019. The Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company are still conducting six-month trial that began in August.
The fourth and newest version of the bin, however, will be rolled out more publicly, with malls likely to be targeted. The co-founders still have grander plans for The Smart Bin and working towards a version that can recognise paper and organic materials.
They revealed to The National that, by April of this year, they hope to have perfected a version that can be commercialised at the target price of around $1,000.
Among the global movement chasing time to combat climate change, the UAE government aims to invest $163.3 billion by 2050 to meet the growing energy demand and ensure a sustainable growth for the country’s economy. Earlier in January, Dubai announced that it is banning single-plastic use in its airport, sparing the environment at least 5,500 tonnes of plastic per year.
