Written by daniel

My friend’s brother’s cousin told me 

“Bio-waste doesn’t interest anyone”

Taking an interest in bio-waste means considering waste management as a priority. However, some small producers seem to think that the quantities of bio-waste produced are not significant enough. In addition, the implementation of sorting of bio-waste requires a change in habits among employees and consumers. Waste producers question the level of motivation of users to adopt these new practices. Similarly, there is a fear of the need for a strong investment of time and training in order to change habits 

In this series of articles to decrypt bio-waste, we have questioned two initiatives that transform our fears about the lack of interest and motivation of individuals regarding the management of bio-waste through concrete solutions.

Solutions which will answer your questions

Ouivalo is an innovative company from Nantes ( France) who offers a solution for managing bio-waste to citizens. . “Ouivalo wishes to bring about a positive transition to the world “says Camille Marhadour-Savary, co-founder of the initiative.

Indeed, it is very good to sort your bio-waste, but having to deposit it in a composting center requires additional logistics. And that, Ouivalo understood very well. Their solution allows citizens to valorize their bio-waste easily without changing their habits. “We offer secure relay points around their homes, in order to bring their bio-waste there, on their daily journeys”, for example in food stores. Citizens simply bring their flocked bucket in which they have sorted their peelings at home and empty it in the place provided in their store before shopping.

This initiative connects an eco-responsible community of citizens and distributors to activate a daily recovery of bio-waste in urban areas. Everyone benefit from it.

Camille Marhadour-Savary co-founder of OuiVALO 

Sinba is a Peruvian social enterprise that seeks to give meaning to waste, by being the first company in Latin America to offer a circular economy model for bio-waste. “In Lima, 52% of the waste is organic waste […], only 4% of this waste is recycled.” says Pipo Reiser.

“Essentially, we are wasting thousands of tonnes of natural resources which, if properly processed, could be used to generate a much healthier, resilient and productive local food production system.”

Sinba offers a circular economy system. They train employees of food companies to sort and recycle organic waste, which are transformed into pig food in a BioFactory. Subsequently, the pig food is redistributed to urban breeders. Finally, theses breeders are in contact with the food company to complete the circle.

As of December 2019, Sinba has made it possible to reduce organic waste, which ends up in waste collection centers, by 95% of the 38 companies with which they work, i.e. 1,600 tonnes of bio-waste!

Pipo Reiser co-founder of Sinba


What you should know

This prejudice portrays citizens as not interested in bio-waste. However, as Camille de Ouivalo discovered, they are, but the difficulty of accessing initiatives reduces their commitment.

This difficulty of access come from a lack of accessibles solutions and easily identifiables by citizens. “Citizens are looking for a multitude of small acts to perform daily to reduce, consistently, their ecological footprint.” explain Camille of Ouivalo.

Indeed, citizens are looking for non invasive solutions but allowing them to have a positive impact. If the options are clearly exposed, the citizens will be able to choose the one which match the best with their habits and desires.

In addition to accessibility, which favors even more the commitment is the comprehension of the local impact due to the valorization of the bio-waste.

In the case where the initiatives exist, Pipo of Sinba, tell us : “ It is important to use common sense, to tell the story of bio-waste as a story of reconnection to nature and its natural cycles “ It is necessary to communicate about the impact which can have a virtuous cycle on the reconstitution of the ecosystem and our community.

The use of key numbers may help to convince. For example, in France, the bio-waste represent half of the contents of our bins, which could help to fertilize 150 000 hectares of agricultural land.

To create synergy and facilitate the commitment of everybody, Camille highlight the importance of creating more connexion between the initiatives and the citizens. Which will help by giving visibility to the public. By the way, the dynamisme generated by initiatives linked to bio-waste is often a social link creator. For example, the implementation of collective composers favors the creation of spaces for exchanges and meetings.

The challenges of the initiatives to go further

  • The challenge of Ouivalo which is equally its mission is to be able to offer their solution and facilitate access with relay points to every person who want to act, with the objective of 1 000 persons in 2020 !

The company Sinba gives itself 3 challenges to overcome :

  • The first is the development of a replicable and scalable technology for converting bio-waste into animal food. 
  • The second is to improve agricultural practices of urban farms so that the pig meat produced meets sanitary conditions for human consumption.
  • The third is to take into account the complex social context present in Lima when cooperating with urban pig breeders.

The 3 actions that you can do