Duitin Introduces Digital Application to Facilitate Waste Recycling

In early July 2021, Google for Startup Accelerator announced 8 graduates of the first accelerator program in Indonesia. One of them is Duitin, a digital service developer that facilitates recycling, allowing people to request garbage collection at their homes and get reward.

Based on data from McKinsey & Co and Ocean Conservancy, Indonesia ranks second as the largest producer of plastic waste in the world, reaching 63,9 million tons per year. Of these, only less than 10% can be recycled. The rest ends up in landfill or worse, drifts out to sea. Without serious action, the amount of plastic waste that pollutes the ocean will increase significantly.

COO Duitin Adijoyo Prakoso revealed that his startup started as a social mission to a scavenger village to find out how they survive and what they are like. pain point-his. On that occasion, the founder found the fact that many scavengers buy recycled waste from warungs to resell to pelapak which are then collected for resale to recycling factories

"Then we realized that there are many processes that can be simplified through technology in the recycling industry involving scavengers, households and recycling plants."

In simple terms, this application is made to facilitate the management of recycled waste using a pick-up facility picker. The use of the application is also considered to be able to make picker can be more focused in collecting recyclable waste. On the other hand, Duitin is also a movement to sort, collect and manage waste so that they can get a 'second life' through the recycling process.

Currently, there are 6 classifications of recycled waste that can be managed through Duitin, namely plastic, cardboard, glass, cooking oil, aluminum cans, and multi-layer boxes. "We also want to make it easier for people who want to start sorting their waste, therefore, we also try not to make it difficult for them with too many waste categories," added Adijoyo.

In addition, the government also continues to strive to reduce the amount of waste. The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has issued Pergub No. 77 of 2020 concerning Waste Management in the Scope of Community Pillars. Through this regulation, households are required to manage waste. Thus, the waste is not directly disposed of in the waste bank.

Recycled waste that has been picked up, will be cleaned and sorted by type, color and material, then sent to the chopping factory. The results of the enumeration can be reprocessed into new items such as sacks or plastic bottles. In addition, it can also be processed as a material to make plastic seeds, threads, fabrics and even for export.

Contributors who successfully sell their trash will get reward from picker in the form of Coins that can be used to buy products on the platform. Every transaction that occurs on the platform will also be awarded points. In addition, contributors can also withdraw Duitin Coin to a bank account. Currently, Duitin has collaborated with several parties such as LinkAja, and is in the process of integrating with the DANA platform.

Support for the informal sector

Apart from contributing to a better earth and nature, Duitin also wants to participate in improving welfare and the economy for some levels of society. The team admits that they are committed to making a positive impact on the environment while at the same time having a vision to raise the standard of living and the image of the profession for employees picker in the eyes of society.

The informal sector, especially in this industry the scavengers, the majority are people who unbanked which are not affordable by banking products. Duitin sees this as one that also becomes pain points, sectors that need financial support the most, do not even have access to financial products.

One of the objectives that Duitin wants to achieve by employing the informal sector in its application is for them to start building their financial profile. It is hoped that it can be used as credit scoring when they need access to financial institutions to survive in today's economic uncertainty.

In terms of funding, currently Duitin is still operating independently bootstrapping. However, Adijoyo also said that his team is currently in the process of fundraising. There is no mention of the targeted funding target, but they hope that this fundraising process can be achieved in Q4 2021.