The average person produces 4.3 pounds of waste every day, 1.6 pounds more than back in 1960. In the United States, 55% of the 220 million tons of waste end up in landfills or the oceans.
However, there are imaginative ways of looking at waste. As many communities around the world are moving towards a more ecologically responsible mindset, there are many creative startups that prove that the waste doesn’t really have to be wasted.
Here are some of them, operating in wildly different areas from toy manufacturing to reclaiming the fishnet in the oceans.
Spoiler Alert
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted. The cost of this waste is $680 billion in industrialized countries and $310 billion in developing countries.
Spoiler Alert, a mobile app, lets you donate the food that might otherwise go to waste. Many food businesses and farms use Spoiler Alert. This means those in need or organizations who assist communities experiencing food shortages can benefit the surplus food that could end up in the trash can instead.
Karma Recycling
India, one of the most crowded countries in the world, is also one of the biggest electronic waste producers. The rapid urbanization and economic developments in the country accelerate an appetite for electronics. According to the United Nations, there are more mobile phones than toilets in India.
That said, electronic waste is also a lucrative market. United Nations Environment Programme states that illegally traded and dumped electronic waste is worth $19 billion annually.
Karma Recycling taps into this lucrative market in one of the world’s most electronic waste rich economies. They purchase old mobile devices, fix and resell them through their online platform.
To read the full story, visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/didemtali/2016/09/27/ecofriendly-startups/#38f1c5355237.