The 3-in-1 Solution

Until very recently, we used to think of welfare as being the sole responsibility of the government. We are even willing to give away a significant chunk of our hard-earned money so that our everyday needs are taken care of without having to worry about them. This system has proven to work fairly well but only to a certain extent. Indeed, several anomalies are lingering or gaining ground in a context of rapid demographic growth and social and economic changes.

However, where the system stumbles, individuals are increasingly taking the lead and disrupting the current landscape with simple and efficient solutions. Take Khan Academy and the virtual school or Grameen Bank and the bank for the poor. These concepts have revolutionized their respective industries and democratized the concept of social entrepreneurship, attracting more and more individuals who want to help find sustainable solutions to social and environmental problems.

One of these individuals are social entrepreneurs Iftekhar Enayetullah and Maqsood Sinha who started Waste Concern in Bangladesh back in 1995. With their concept, not only were they able to solve three critical problems at the same time, but they also found a way to secure sustainable revenue streams and to engage all the stakeholders in the process. Here is their model:

-          The Problem

o   In cities and slum areas, more than 20 000 tons of waste a day - 70% of which is organic - is stockpiled in open dumpings and landfills

o   This causes environmental and health issues resulting from greenhouse gases

o   On the other hand, over-farmed soil in rural areas lacks nutrients and needs more fertilizers

-          The Solution

      A 3 steps process:

o   Collection of waste: waste pickers and communities participate in the collection and separation of waste

o   Composting: a network of more than 60 neighborhood composting plants through the country

o   Marketing: sale of organic fertilizers to distribution companies and sale of carbon credits to large organizations

-          The Impact

o   More than a thousand jobs created

o   Less open air waste resulting in less environmental and health issues – a goal of 90,000 tons of carbon emissions reduction from the atmosphere by the end of 2015

o   Less burden for the population who had to find ways to get rid of the waste

o   Fertilizing solutions distributed to more than 100 000 farmers, reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and increasing the per hectare yield by high percentages

-          The Development

o   Waste concern has moved from a simple small scale composting model (Up to 3 tons/day) to several offerings including a medium scale model (3 to 50 tons/day) and a large scale model (51 tons/day)

o   This concept is being replicated in more than 10 Asian countries as a first step, then will be exported to several African cities

This example shows how a problem for some people can be eliminated and transformed into a solution for others with simple ideas. It also shows how populations’ welfare can be efficiently handled by a streamlined ecosystem engaging all the stakeholders involved in it. The question is why aren’t successful models like this one already replicated everywhere in the world? How can they rapidly be disseminated and scaled-up?

More information on Waste Concern can be found in: http://www.wasteconcern.org/