Plastics: they revolutionized the manufacturing world, but it all came at a cost. Over half the plastic produced in the world is used for packaging, meaning it’s used only briefly before being discarded. Recycling is the best solution we have to the billions of tons of plastic that would otherwise end up in oceans, waterways and landfills—but is it being done properly? RecycleSV is offering one solution, by “giving waste monetary value.”
All developed countries have long-established programs for recycling plastics, glass and metal waste. However it’s mostly done through encouragement or even coercion. Separate and discard your waste correctly or it won’t be collected—or worse, you could get fined. Recycling therefore is something people often do not for the good of the planet, but begrudgingly or out of duty. The result is it’s still not enough, and the amount of recyclable waste that never returns to the manufacturing process remains a problem.
Achieving a 100% circular economy for packaging is an ambitious goal, but any new idea could one day grow into the global solution we need. Enter RecycleSV, an Edinburgh-based project that wants to use a Bitcoin SV-based incentive system to encourage more recycling activity among households and businesses.
RecycleSV is starting small. Founder and CEO Darren Anderson is crowdfunding the startup via a Patreon page, and is inviting U.K. residents to sign up as alpha testers. RecycleSV’s plan is to build an ecosystem that includes individuals and businesses, and looks at education as well as monetary rewards.
“We believe that change comes from education and incentivisation. We are designing a system that incentivises everyone to recycle the material they consume, whether they care about the environment or not. RecycleSV is for the world for everyone to use to be incentivised and rewarded for your efforts in saving the planet and recycling.”
Although more details of how RecycleSV actually works have yet to emerge, the description hints it will look at environmental problems beyond just waste:
“Come and help us in our waste campaign, the war on plastics, and reduce climate change with your own personal carbon foot print monitor.”
CoinGeek interviewed Darren Anderson to hear why he created RecycleSV and for a few hints at what’s coming up next. Read on to see how he and RecycleSV are planning to spin everything up.
What is the big idea behind RecycleSV?
The RecycleSV vision and ultimate mission is to stop the billions of tonnes of recyclable materials that are thrown away each year because there is no incentive or rewards for people to recycle. This results in extreme damage to the planet, consumption of its resources and pollution to our sea. Incentivise Recycling: We believe that change comes from education and incentivisation. We are designing a system that incentivises everyone to recycle the material they consume, whether they care about the environment or not.
Where are you located?
We are located in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.
Which countries will your service be available?
As we are currently in Alpha testing phase the services will be tested locally in Edinburgh, U.K., with local people and businesses giving us a much closer relationship and deeper understanding of user’s feedback enabling us to create the system that is very much required, we plan for the Rsv system to be rolled out to as many countries as possible as it grows, develops and more Eco conscious partners come onboard.
Who can join RecycleSV?
Currently only people in the U.K. can join the limited app testing phase however everyone worldwide is welcome to join the RecycleSV community and share their thoughts with us.
The Testers will be chosen to participate in the limited testing phase, no wallet or transaction are going on chain for the time being (this is the next phase of testing).
How do you plan to incentivize recycling, and how does BSV factor in this plan?
Give waste monetary value.
People and companies disregard their waste if it has no value to them. By adding monetary value to waste at the point of production or, at the point of sale, we can achieve a fully circular, zero waste economy. The public gets a financial incentive to encourage them to do the right thing and recycle Reduce reuse recycle becomes a much more viable option for sorting and distributing waste.
By applying a deposit on the goods at POS, users are attaching value to the waste that can only be redeemed through recycling the goods correctly at an RSV station via the App.
On top of the redeemable deposit we plan to work with eco-conscious partners to develop exciting rewards programs, vouchers, and discounts thus adding additional recycling incentives.
The combination of deposit and reward should encourage and incentivise the public into the correct recycling behaviour, reducing waste, and increasing recycling.
Why do you think BSV is the best platform for the service?
We believe that BSV is the only trustless block chain with the power capable of scaling to and coping with the massive volume of microtransactions that will come from tokenizing waste, used cans, bottles, papers, and all waste products that can be recycled, reused, or reduced.
How can Bitcoin blockchain revolutionize the waste supply chain?
The RSV product return system creates a decentralized ecosystem of recycling incentivisation.
Each product is assigned a unique RSV Product ID that is stored along with additional product metadata on the BSV public ledger. The RSV Product ID is printed on the product in the form of a QR code and encoded in Green NFC tag.
The RSV product ID and associated metadata aid in sorting by type. This helps the public and machine sorting facilities to recognize the product composition and can sort the waste /plastic, metals parts into the correct bins.
The RecycleSV product identity is unique and is validated upon return of the deposit. This way a QR code & Green NFC tag can be used for paying out a deposit only once in each case, protecting the system from potential fraud of multiple deposit claims.
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