Most electronic waste is not recycled; Instead, our discarded devices (and the toxic metals inside them) pile up in landfills, polluting the environment. air And pollute nearby Soil And underground water.
Based in Ghana AppCyclers It aims to address this crisis across Africa through an online marketplace, where individuals and businesses can buy and sell recyclable e-waste. The startup says its mission is to maximize “reuse and recycling of electronic materials,” and by necessity, the company’s efforts go beyond simply operating a digital platform.
“We have to do the product collection ourselves,” said co-founder and CEO Agudor Agabas, noting the lack of local recycling infrastructure. While the CEO aims to expand AppCyclers across Africa through his marketplace, Agabas told TechCrunch that the company also intends to invest in new recycling infrastructure in Ghana.
To get there, AppCyclers is seeking to raise a seed round of $100,000 to $250,000. The startup says it has raised $20,000 so far, through a combination of “snowboarding, grants, and pitch competitions.”
Startup Battlefield 200 TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 AppCyclers also has its hand in teaching recycling and e-waste stripping machines. These machines help recyclers separate rubber and plastic from more valuable materials, such as copper and gold, and are an alternative to the practice of… Burning of insulating materials.
AppCyclers says it is also developing an AI model to determine the value of e-waste in photographs. “This approach will automate the manual process of pricing waste and will ensure that consumers who visit our web platform have a hassle-free experience,” the startup told TechCrunch.