Blockchain technology will support Waste Aid’s mission to share low-cost waste management expertise to communities that require it most across the globe, in the charity’s new association with Edinburgh-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Zumo. Through the collaboration, Zumo users will be able to donate funds to Waste Aid whenever they send automatically, exchange, buy, or pay with cryptocurrencies by the new Zumo app. Visitors to the Waste Aid website are also capable of making a one-off or monthly donation.

The funds raised will support over 1.7 billion adults who do not have access to modern financial services and further support Waste Aid’s mission to bring waste management services and expertise to communities around the world. Ceris Turner-Bailes, Chief Executive of WasteAid, said in a statement: “One in three people globally do not have a waste management service and have to burn or dump their waste, leading to serious health problems and adding to marine litter and climate change. “This partnership with Zumo will mean we can better support the communities that will benefit most from safe and sustainable waste management, and together we can help tackle the issues right at the heart of global waste pollution.”

Nick Jones, Founder of Zumo, said in a statement: “Although blockchain technology and waste management appear to speak different purposes, in reality, they share a common vision to empower communities and create long-term sustainable livelihoods for people globally.“There is so much that developed markets can learn from the communities that WasteAid supports – from the seamless use of digital payments in everyday life that make access to modern financial services inclusive to taking better care for our planet. Our partnership with WasteAid is one of the common values, and we can’t wait to get started.”

This is just one of the associations via which Waste Aid is extending its international reach, with the charity has currently launched a new initiative to empower green entrepreneurs in South Africa, India, and Vietnam to control their local waste situations. Waste Aid strives to stop marine plastic pollution and decrease carbon emissions in these countries and beyond: the charity’s ‘Widening the Net’ appeal last year raised over £168,000 to help prevent plastic pollution in the Cameroon estuary, while a recycling center was set up in Kenya to enhance the country’s waste management and sanitation situation.

Currently, the charity ran a virtual safari, which took place during the UK’s lockdown to raise funds for waste collectors in Kenya. The charity’s work in Africa is ongoing, with a two-year plastics recycling project recently underway in The Gambia. Similar projects have been run in Kenya, Ghana, and Somaliland, to improve recycling know-how and develop waste management systems.