BiD Seminar ~ WASTE & RECYCLING ~

Summary:

On October 31st 2007, the first BiD Seminar of the series ‘Money meets Development’ was held. Many participants with various backgrounds joined us at the Chamber of Commerce in Utrecht, the list of participants can be downloaded below.

After the opening by Joost van Loon, Jan Boone of VAR and World Wide Recycling took the floor. Jan gave a sketch of the waste sector both in the Netherlands and in developing countries. He gave insight into the challenges related to doing business in this sector and concluded with an overview of opportunities. His presentation can be downloaded below.

Next, two waste entrepreneurs were interviewed. Rien Driessen of Envirotec and Wim Hardeman of Design180. Both have thorough experience in this field. Wim exports knowledge and technology on pet recycling to various countries. He shared his experience on the recycling factory in Kampala, Uganda. Wim is developing technology to recycle the most difficult forms of plastic into new products that can be used locally. He works among other countries in Cameroon and Ghana. Both entrepeneurs shared their view on how to become a succesful businessman or -woman in this sector.

After a break, during which the attendees were busy catching up, two starting entrepreneurs pitched their plans to the investors. Maria Rodriquez from Guatemala presented her business Byoearth. Byoearth sells organic fertilizer produced as a result of the digestion process of worms. The investors, Sander Smits van Oyen from Sovec and Tahira Donkersloot from Oikocredit were very enthousiastic. Sander also represented Hans Groenhuis from Rova, who unfortunately called in sick. The investors offered to continue the dialogue with Maria to further finetune her business plan.
Johan Godschalk of Ageratec presented his business, Masasi Cashew Nut factory, which produces biodiesel from Cashew Nut waste. This business is a joined effort between Ageratec and Masasi in Tanzania. Although the investors were enthousiastic about the business concept, they had questions about the organisational structure, explaining that for an investor it needs to be very clear how the business will be organised and whether the investor can influence the business risks that are taken.

The seminar was concluded with drinks and the exchange of contacts and experience.

See also the article in P+

Programme

The waste market in developing countries

Waste management offers business potential for small and medium sized enterprises and investors. During this seminar the participants received an overview of the possibilities and the challenges in this sector. Both entrepreneurs and investors were present to seize the opportunities!

This seminar was organised by NCDO - BiD, in collaboration with of Partner in Development. Contact her for more information on this topic.
Organising partners were COS Utrecht, WASTE and VAR.

BiD Seminars of NCDO are a meeting place for Dutch businesses, NGO’s and other experts. More information can be found on www.businessindevelopment.nl or by contacting .

Waste Publications

In response to many requests for further information, here below are a few relevant publications from Waste. It is possible to order the first two books in the list. Send your mailing address to and how many copies of which publications you would like to receive (maximum of two copies per organisation).
For more information, please contact:

WASTE advisers on urban environment and development.
tel: +31 182522625
email: office@waste.nl
www.waste.nl
www.ecosan.nl
www.wastekeysheets.net

Urban Waste Series 2 - This document describes how mixed plastic waste is reprocessed by informal small-scale enterprises and converted into end products for direct resale or use in formal industries. It provides some initial guidelines for the successful development of plastic waste recovery and reprocessing enterprises.
Download: www.waste.nl/page/252

Urban Waste Series 1 - This document describes low-cost options for the use of urban organic waste to generate useful end products, which support agriculture and energy generation. Activities discussed include animal raising, composting and co-composting, biogas generation and the production of briquettes. Not in hardcopy available. Download: www.waste.nl/page/160

This publication gives insights into what is a suitable framework for collaboration between micro-enterprises, community based organizations and cooperatives. It also shows how micro-enterprises, community based organizations and cooperatives can obtain access to credit and technical assistance, how they can effectively promote user participation and payment for services, as well as how to design communal systems for easy and efficient operation. This publication should help readers visualize ho poor communities and local micro-enterprises working together can crate cleaner and healthier neighbourhoods.