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Katy Ortega is not very familiar with the circular economy, and does not have in mind the fact that the world could satisfy its needs as a society with only 70% of what we currently consume (according to the circularity gap report 2023 of the Circle Economy organization). But he knows something about waste management. She is a member of the Trinidad Recyclers Association and for the last year has worked tirelessly at the Sinba inclusive circular recovery centre, a sophisticated and complex recycling plant that uses artificial intelligence to categorize each waste.
“We separate organic and inorganic solid waste,” Katy explains on a break, from this immense industrial warehouse in Vila El Salvador, 20 kilometers from Lima, the capital of Peru. Sinba is responsible for processing and converting them to give them a new use. “It’s a good job, because it allows us to contribute our bit to the world, and transform what many consider garbage into things and products that companies can use,” she says.
Sinba is a company founded in 2015 that was born as a response to an uncomfortable and disruptive question: Why does the world pollute more every day if we are in an era in which, supposedly, sustainability, reducing the carbon footprint and respect for the environment have become trends that global companies and countries around the world embrace as a priority in their culture?
One fact: every year, the world produces an amount of solid waste equivalent to twice the volume of Mexico City. A total of 2,000 million tons of garbage, of which barely 14% is recycled. The rest is wasted and transformed into a form of pollution that adds more pressure to our planet every year.
Pipo Reiser and Andrea Rivera, founders of Sinba, understood that solid waste pollution is a taboo topic for most companies. The dust under the rug, the big elephant in the room that no one wants to see. However, we are not talking about malevolent businessmen who enjoy polluting the planet, but rather about leaders who for decades did not find sustainable and adequate solutions to manage their waste appropriately.
“No one thinks it makes sense to throw garbage behind a hill. Everyone understands that what is waste for some could be used again. Things don’t become trash when you throw them in a container. Things don’t disappear and we all know it. The problem is often that we do not find comprehensive solutions that allow us to manage our waste appropriately,” says Reiser, administrator and strong activist of the circular economy.
In Peru, a country that generates more than 300 kilos of waste annually, but only recovers 5%, there are three main alternatives for waste management: informal recyclers, who work in conditions of very high vulnerability, who operate in the shadows and that do not provide effective solutions for the environment; recycling programs funded by foreign foundations, which are almost always interrupted when funds run out; and municipal services, which in almost all cases are responsible for collecting waste and taking it to landfills on the outskirts of the city, which does not solve a problem, but rather transports it to another place.
The perfect circle: food that becomes food
Unlike companies that incorporate these traditional recycling dynamics, Sinba’s business model is not based only on its ability to process and transform the waste collected into new products, but also charges its partner companies for comprehensive and responsible management. of their “garbage”. The Sinba team delivers marked containers, trains on some key concepts of waste management, collects the waste, processes it properly and then sells the generated recycling material.
But perhaps the most innovative thing about Sinba’s proposal is its ability to process organic waste that it transforms into inputs for the manufacture of balanced food for animals from certified urban farms, and even compost. In this way, the circle of sustainability proposed by the venture is closed in a virtuous manner, and allows large restaurants or food franchises to also have at hand an efficient solution for the transformation of waste and organic ‘leftovers’.
“If you are a huge company that generates a lot of waste every month, you should be able to manage that waste without so much complication. And the truth is that, until a while ago, recycling was very difficult in Latin America. We need simple, direct, accessible solutions. And that is what we are looking for with Sinba,” reveals Rivera, also a zootechnician and who is convinced that the industry is willing to pay to be certain that its garbage is being processed and will not generate pollution. “Many companies focus on only one part of the waste management process, which creates a fragmentation of work. “We challenge this paradigm with a comprehensive service, all in a fixed monthly payment,” she says.
The internal regulations and sustainability policies that companies and countries around the world are implementing have become a great lever for Sinba’s circular vision. Today, responsible waste management is a topic that increasingly attracts more companies and brands that seek to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. This is where the creation of quality seals that guarantee the proper transformation of waste can become a business opportunity for sustainable ventures.
“We want our model to be replicated and scaled in other areas of the country and the region. We are sure that enterprises that provide environmentally responsible solutions can and should be profitable, and contribute to the care of our resources,” explains Reiser.
Today Sinba is sustainable, but it needs to grow even more to be able to scale at the pace of demand. Currently the company has two sources of income: the waste collection service, which generates 80% of the income, and the sale of transformed materials, which produces the other 20%.
Fortunately, Sinba’s vision of a circular and sustainable economy seems to have permeated the Lima industry, and this year they hope to be able to process 20 tons of waste daily and reach sales close to a million and a half dollars. To date, Sinba has more than 60 clients, among which the Central restaurant stands out – chosen as the best restaurant in the world according to The 50 Best restaurants 2023-, a shopping center with more than 20 stores, and around twenty Starbucks stores.
It has been, however, a long road full of rejections. Taking care of the planet and making this care a sustainable and scalable business requires changing certain paradigms. And explain, again and again, that a world where nothing and no one is superfluous is possible and within our reach.
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