Idea
Ministry of Waste (MoW) creates a fair supply chain of recycled ocean-bound/beach plastic and other materials by connecting polluted and disadvantaged communities in Southeast Asia with waste-industry innovators and global leaders in sustainability – this is achieved through a fully integrated waste management model appropriate for the island context. Less plastic in the ocean, brands acting responsibly and new economic opportunities for local communities.
Ministry of Waste collaborates with innovative manufacturers and recyclers to turn any ocean-bound and beach waste into new meaningful products and partners with corporates and brands who reinvent their products and packaging while showing their leadership in sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
People
Lead entrepreneur: Samanta Skrivere
Ministry of Waste was founded by Samanta Skrivere. Sam’s background is in project management, communication and human resources, and helping fellow startups solve their problems. In Indonesia, she is joined by an Indonesian co-founder and COO with extensive waste management operations background, as well as a whole locally employed team.
Impact
Their mission is driven by 3 main aims:
- creating fully integrated waste management systems (domestic and commercial) for islands by de-polluting the environment and preventing ocean-bound and beach plastic from entering the ocean through innovative waste management models
- engaging with local communities for whom the collected waste becomes a resource and growth opportunity within the island’s economy
- creating a fair supply chain of plastics and other materials for their clients, by eliminating unnecessary middlemen and paying their employees a fair living wage
Get in touch
Ministry of Waste is interested in networking opportunities and long-term partners within the plastic industry (manufacturing of plastic objects, packaging and others), as well opportunities for media coverage and funding dedicated to developing countries.
Tel: +33 (0)624 319052
News about Ministry of Waste
Social impact
Changing the world, one café at a time
A café near the mystical temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, set up with support from Cambridge Judge Business School, provides an opportunity for tourists to give back to the local community. Along the riverfront in Siem Reap in north-western Cambodia, the smell of amok, a sweet, fermented fish stock, hangs in the air as tourists dodge between tuk-tuks and hawkers selling deep-fried scorpions on sticks. Visitors throng to the area to visit the fabled Angkor Wat temple complex, the largest religious building in the world. Yet among the abundance of hotels, restaurants and bars in Siem Reap, there is abject poverty nearby – as Georgina Hemmingway, founder of Footprint Cafés, a Cambridge Social Venture, discovered when she first visited the city in 2010. "It's very easy as a tourist in Siem Reap to arrive in the city, stay in a swanky hotel for three days, get a lift in a tuk-tuk along probably the only smooth road in the city to the temples," says Georgina. "The lived reality of a tourist and the lived reality of someone in the community are very different." So Georgina set out to do something to bridge that gulf – with help from the…