Background & Info.

Up to 9.948 tons of plastic waste in Uganda is uncollected annually, according to a study conducted under the GKMA PET Plastic Recycling Partnership. 11 percent of this ends up directly into water bodies. According to research conducted by the World Climate School’s Uganda chapter, more than 75% of used plastic bottles end up in landfills, lakes, and rivers, which is seriously damaging to the environment.

This problem is not peculiar to Uganda alone. Most African countries, as well as most parts of the developing world, face similar issues.

Project Info:

EcoMarket is an open marketplace that directly connects buyers of used and recycled plastics with individuals and businesses who want to donate or sell them.

To use the platform, companies that need recycled materials can request for these materials, and stake an amount of tokens (equivalent to the quantity of recycled or used plastics required) in a smart contract-powered escrow account.

Recyclers & collectors are then notified of the company’s requests, and can signify interest in providing these plastics. After approval from the company, the collector can go ahead to gather plastics, deposit them in a collection center, and earn rewards from the tokens escrowed by the company, after a 48-hour cool-off period.

Each request and dropoff is weighed and recorded with picture proof, and recorded on the blockchain for traceability and verification.

In the future, apart from the tokens earned, organizations who participate in the marketplace earn the EcoCredit NFT, a signal of their commitment to environmental sustainability.

While EcoMarket is free for now, in the future, we plan on receiving a tiny percentage of the total amount disbursed for each request.

We are applying for this grant in order to build support of EVM-compatible chains into EcoMarket, in order to facilitate the secure escrow through these chains.

The Benefits

• Individuals in developing countries are encouraged to promote healthy recycling practices while also earning extra income for collecting waste plastic.
• Organizations can easily access a reliable source of plastic waste, and at the same time empower low-income earners in developing societies.
• Recording the dropoff on the blockchain enables the verification and certification of used plastics for organizations’ supply chain.
• Decentralized: The EcoMarket escrow is fully decentralized & powered by a smart contract. Whenever a dropoff has been verified by both the recycler and the company, the recycler can claim their rewards. In cases where the order is not fulfilled, the smart contract automatically processes returns to the company’s wallet address.

Project Website:

• EcoMarket App

Project Test Instructions:

As a Company

1. On the EcoMarket landing page, click on Get Started, and select Company.

   

2. Connect your wallet

   

3. As a new user, you’re required to set your profile.

   

4. Lock tokens in your escrow wallet, which will be used to automatically pay out rewards to collectors who have successfully delivered the plastics.

   Currently, EcoMarket supports escrowing TRX via the Tron blockchain. However, with this grant, we would build and extend support for EVM-compatible chains.

   

   You can also withdraw from your escrow wallet, any amount not currently locked in any ongoing offers.

5. Go to your Dashboard, and create an offer.

   An offer is a request for plastics to be delivered to a specific collection center in a particular locality. Enter your offer details, including the amount, quantity required, etc…

   

   Once an offer is created, you will not be able to withdraw from your escrow wallet any amount locked within the offer.

6. This offer is then broadcasted via email (and in the future, SMS) to all collectors within the locality of the collection center you’ve selected.

7. Once collectors have indicated interest, you’ll need to approve each of their delivery requests. You will sign the approval with your wallet.

   

8. After approval, once a delivery has been marked as complete by the collector, you can view the details of their delivery, including the proof of delivery.

9. Once completed by the collector, as the company, you have 48 hours to raise a dispute (work-in-progress).

   If you raise a dispute, the collector will be unable to withdraw the tokens.

   If no dispute is raised, the funds will be withdrawn from your escrow and deposited in the collector’s wallet.

   

As a Collector

1. On the EcoMarket landing page, click on Get Started, and select Collector.

   Then, connect your wallet (in the future, collectors will be able to create EVM-compatible wallets with just their emails or social accounts).

   As a new user, you’re required to set your profile. As a collector, you will also need to select your location from one of our supported locations.

   

2. Once a new offer has been sent by a company for delivery within your locality, you will be notified via email. You can also visit your dashboard to view these offers.

   

   View the offer details, and click “Fulfill Request” to indicate your interest. Enter the quantity of plastic you’d like to deliver.

   

3. The company will be notified, and can then approve your request.

4. Once approved, go to the collection center and deliver the plastics. Upload proof as part of your delivery.

5. After a cool-off period (48 hours), if no dispute has been raised, you can claim the funds for the delivery within your escrow wallet.

   

Project Details

Pitch Video

How it Works

A deep-dive into EcoMarket’s features, application architecture, and roadmap can be found in the following Notion doc:

• EcoMarket Documentation

Project Milestones:

Q1 - Q2 2023

• 6/4/2023: Market research, documentation, Figma design :white_check_mark:
• 12/4/2023: Backend & Frontend Deployment on ecomarketapp.xyz :hourglass_flowing_sand:
• Connect Wallet
• Profile SET-UP for companies & recyclers
• Company Escrow Wallet, including Top Up & Withdrawal features
• Offer creation by the company
• Offer Fulfillment by Recycler, including recording & uploading proof of dropoff
• Recycler Wallet, including Withdraw functions.
• Cool-off Period (after which reward can be claimed by the recycler if there is no dispute).
• Claim Rewards (by the recycler, after cool-off period has elapsed without dispute)
• Disputes, which can be raised by the company if drop-off does not match the offer criteria.

Q3 2023

• Support for EMV-compatible chains, for easier scaling.
• Performance optimizations (pagination, lazy-loading, etc).
• Integrate Web3Auth for easier sign-up for collectors, most of whom may not be crypto-savvy.
• NFTs — If a company’s offer is 100% fulfilled before the expiry date, the company would earn EcoCredit, a digital collectible that showcases the company’s commitment to eco-friendly initiatives.
• Outreach & Education Initiatives (in schools, marketplaces, and universities)
• Enable offer creation & deliveries for other scrap types (metals, batteries, etc)

Q4 2023

• Admin Portal for platform management
• Decentralized verification for Company & Collector
• Token-based Governance Model, DAO
• Dispute Management Portal
• Supply-driven Marketplace (where a user can upload plastics, or other scrap items available for sale)
• Amount Negotiation (allows the company rep. to negotiate the amount for items uploaded by the recycler)

The Future

• We want to build reverse vending machines and reprogram it to automate verification of delivery & payout of rewards to collectors.

• Being embedded more deeply within the recycling value chain by providing:

  • Plastic Recycling Facilities & Centers.
  • Provision of logistics infrastructure for large-volume deliveries.

Team

Darabong DE | Project Lead

• Environmental Enthusiast, and Project Lead for EcoMarket
• Project Manager with experience in gametech and traveltech.
• Content Writer and Brand Manager

LinkedIn

Oluwafemi Alofe | Blockchain Engineer

• Blockchain Lead at myco.io, biggest OTT blockchain-powered platform in the Mena region
• 3 years Co-founder of Corpreneur, a fintech company - with 10k customers and $250k transactions processed during its operations.
• 8 years of Software Development background.
• 3 years Crypto Savvy.
• Solidity developer at Protofire, where he worked on the integrations team to integrate Chainlink with other EVM chains.
• Ex- Forbes Accelerator fellow.
• StackShift Fellow.
• Celo Camp Batch 5 Accelerator fellow.

LinkedIn | GitHub | Medium

Paul O. | Frontend Developer & Documentation

• Experienced Software Product Manager in Fintech, robotics/AI, edtech, Web3.
• Technical Writer.
• PM at Nestcoin, leading the growth of OnBoard, a non Custodian wallet/exchange processing ~$100k daily.
• Former PM at Popular Robotics (Chinese Robotics & AI company), TeamApt (Nigerian fintech company).
• Defi Talents (Frankfurt School Blockchain Center) Fellow.
• StackShift Fellow.
• Celo Camp Batch 5 Accelerator Fellow.

LinkedIn | GitHub | Medium