Lightbulbs
Before I get to my idea, I want to give a quick plug for Urekaweekend, an idea incubation event in KL that pushes you from idea to action on an accelerated schedule. Since this month’s theme was “social enterprises”, I focused on a few interesting organizations that I learned about through Changemakers, Acumen Fund, and general research (I’ll include a list and links in my next post). Thinking about one of the companies I profiled led me to consider the sorry state of recycling in Malaysia and how a social enterprise might go about addressing it.
My idea starts with creating an app/website/mobile website. Yes, this doesn’t sound particularly innovative and it’s pretty much everyone’s answer for everything these days BUT I have a few reasons for choosing this format.
First off, there seems to be a high rate of smart phone ownership here and a very poor to non-existent recycling culture. On a personal note, the number one barrier I have to recycling in KL is a lack of information about where I can take my recycling or if there are any services I can call. As I potential recycler, I know that I would appreciate a simple site that lists/geotags locations/restaurants/businesses where I could go. To hearken back to my days doing harm reduction health outreach, one of the first steps to behavior change is exposure to accurate information. Making recycling information accessible and actionable would be one goal of the site/app, something made that much easier by the prevalence of smart phones and the likelihood that this information would be very relevant while people are out and about.
Next up, recyclers can easily broadcast when they recycle or identify/geotag a new recycling site to their friends via facebook/twitter/etc. The goal of this, in addition to sharing information, is to start creating a culture of recycling by shifting peer norms and expectations. (Another idea I owe to health outreach.) People might start thinking to themselves, “Maybe it’s more ‘normal’ to drop my recycling off on Saturday on the way to the gym instead of just dumping it in the trash.” “My friends are doing it – I want to get on this bandwagon.” Or, maybe, someone just wants to brag about how environmentally friendly they are just like people brag about all the cool places they visit using foursquare or how many miles they’ve run with Nike Running. That’s fine, too!
After some research and a weekend of geotagging with a group of friends to start populating information, the site can beta-launch. Some next steps could include:
- Personal email/social media campaigns
- Reaching out to local press
- Working with businesses that recycle to make sure they are geotagged and that they start to think about recycling as a new marketing angle
- Encouraging new businesses to start recycling as good PR/CSR
- Getting a chain store to participate for a trial period (for example, Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are all over the place and it could provide great publicity for them while bringing their target consumers right to their front door)
- Selling advertising space to companies that are promoting niche products like organic juice/eco-tourism trips/etc who are interested in targeting people who probably have smart phones, definitely have Internet, care about recycling, and have the time and resources to make special recycling trips or arrangements (i.e. socially conscious folks with disposable income)
- Once the demand for recycling services is established, perhaps the government or more likely private business will step in and provide more organized, more convenient services at a compelling price
The initial site infrastructure could probably be developed in a weekend since it builds on existing platforms (including Google maps and foursquare), connects to other platforms (such as facebook and twitter), and will be simple, simple, simple. Expenses are low, beta-implementation is pretty straight-forward, and it’s really a behavior change marketing campaign after the site launches. I’m hoping to get this rolling ASAP and that one of my AWESOME developer friends will be game (once he wakes up in New York and reads his email). If not, I can always tap into the talented pool of Urekaweekenders. Wish me luck!
