How It Works
From the shop counter to the dashboard
A worked example
One trip to the supermarket
- 1You walk into a supermarket to buy a bottle of oil and a pack of batteries.
- 2Before paying, you choose to share your basket through the platform. It verifies the items instantly.
- 3The system identifies what you bought, checks each product's sustainability status, and sends personalised disposal instructions to your phone — the oil bottle is green, the batteries are red and never belong in a normal bag.
- 4A few days later, ahead of your local collection day, a reminder arrives.
SMS · Eco-Friendly Tech
“Collector coming tomorrow! Please prepare your green and red waste bags.”
Delivered by push, or by SMS if you have no smartphone.
Beyond the reminder, the system explains why each suggested method matters — so you understand the environmental impact of what you bought, and how disposing of it properly contributes to a cleaner community.
The core loop
Buy, verify, dispose, collect, report
- 1
Consumer or retailer
Something is bought
The retailer's point-of-sale scan, or your own scan in the app, identifies the product. Linking a basket is always opt-in.
- 2
Platform
The barcode is matched
The API checks the barcode against the waste category database and returns the category, colour code, recyclability and eco-impact data the producer registered.
- 3
Platform
You are told what to do — and why
Personalised disposal instructions arrive with the reason the method matters. Every instruction is paired with its rationale; the tone is explanatory, never punitive.
- 4
Notification engine
A reminder arrives before collection day
The day before your local pickup, a notification names the specific bags to prepare. If you have no smartphone, the same reminder arrives by SMS.
- 5
Waste collector
The collector confirms the pickup
Volume and category are logged against your household or zone record, with a proof photo. This works with no signal and syncs when the connection returns.
- 6
Analytics layer
Everything becomes evidence
Each event streams into the analytics layer and surfaces on the stakeholder dashboard and the public impact counters in near real time.
Running in parallel
The textile lifecycle
A garment does not fit the four-colour system cleanly, because it can end its life in four different places. So it gets its own track.
Before you buy
Scan a garment to see its materials, sourcing, eco-impact and authenticity — pre-purchase transparency rather than after-the-fact regret.
While you wear it
The garment carries a timeline. Care reminders extend its life, and the app suggests nearby repair when something tears.
Repair or upcycle
A geolocated directory of tailors, artisans and textile recyclers turns a damaged garment into a job for someone local.
Resell, swap or donate
The circular marketplace handles resale, swaps and upcycled products, with in-app M-Pesa payment.
Material recovery
When nothing else is left, fibre recovery closes the loop — and the whole history is on the record.
One app, seven modes
The app adapts to who you are
One account can hold more than one role — a student may be both a citizen and a volunteer, and a tailor may be both an artisan and a retailer.
Citizen / Consumer
Scan products, receive disposal guidance, log waste, request and track pickups, earn and redeem rewards, track garments, browse the marketplace.
- Home — your waste and textile statistics, nudges, points, next pickup
- Scan & Log — barcode scanning, manual logging, photo proof
- Textile Tracker — per-garment lifecycle timeline
- Marketplace — browse, list, chat, M-Pesa checkout
- Profile — rewards wallet, pickup requests, settings
Waste Collector
See scheduled pickups on a map, confirm collections, log volumes by category, scan bags, view route and earnings.
- Today's Route — sequenced map with estimated times
- Pickup Detail — confirm arrival, scan bags, log volume, capture proof
- Requests — accept or decline citizen pickup requests
- Earnings & History — collections, volumes, payments received
Retailer
Scan and sync purchase data at point of sale, promote app adoption to shoppers, view store-level sustainability stats.
- Point-of-Sale Sync — link basket data to a consumer account with consent
- Store Dashboard — participation rates and sustainability statistics
- Promote — in-store materials and QR codes
Producer
Register products and barcodes, upload material and recyclability data, maintain EPR commitments, view product-level disposal outcomes.
- Product Registry — barcodes, material composition, packaging, recyclability
- Eco-Data Updates — sustainability ratings and EPR commitments
- Product Insights — how registered products are disposed of downstream
Artisan / Designer
List repair and upcycling services, manage incoming orders, showcase upcycled products in the marketplace.
- Service Profile — services offered, pricing, portfolio
- Orders — incoming repair and upcycle requests with status tracking
- Listings — upcycled products offered in the marketplace
Institution Admin
Bulk-onboard students, track institutional participation and campaign performance, access the training kit.
- Bulk onboarding for students and staff
- Participation and campaign performance tracking
- Training kit access and institutional leaderboard
Volunteer
Find and RSVP to drives and campaigns, check in on site, log hours, track badges and certificates.
- Opportunities Board — filter and RSVP in one tap
- Event Check-In — QR or geolocation check-in that logs hours automatically
- My Impact — hours, badges, certificates, leaderboard standing
- Team & Group Chat — coordination for your event
- Become a Lead — start a campus club or coordinate a campaign
Questions
The things people ask first
Do I need a smartphone to take part?
No. Collection reminders and basic sorting guidance are delivered over SMS and USSD for feature phones. The full app adds scanning, the marketplace and rewards, but the core service does not depend on owning a smartphone.
Does the app work without internet?
Yes. Waste logs, collector confirmations and volunteer check-ins are written to a local database on your device and queued. They sync when a connection returns, with server-authoritative timestamps resolving any conflict.
How do rewards actually reach me?
Eco-points are earned for verified sorting, logged disposals, confirmed pickups, marketplace circularity and volunteer hours. They redeem as airtime, M-Pesa cash-out, marketplace credit, or a donation to a community clean-up fund.
What stops people gaming the rewards?
Photo evidence, collector-side confirmation, geofencing and rate limits. The roadmap is also deliberately sequenced so the incentive layer only arrives once the logging loop is trustworthy — rewarding what cannot yet be verified is the fastest route to gamed data.
What happens to my personal data?
We operate in line with Kenya's Data Protection Act (2019). Purchase-data linkage and location tracking are explicit, revocable opt-ins. Government, donor and research reporting is served from aggregated, de-identified datasets by default, and no card or PIN data is ever stored.
Which languages does the platform support?
English today. Kiswahili is committed for the app, the website and every notification template, with room for further languages as the programme scales beyond the pilot counties.
Ready to try it?
Pick the path that matches how you already work.