By Gamuchirai Tsokota
Geekay recycling has introduced the first recyclable trash bank in Zimbabwe as an initiative to help the unemployed youth and women in the communities.
The Geekay trash bank is a social enterprise bank, where deposits are made in recyclable ‘trash’ and withdrawals made in cash.
In an interview with the Diplomat Weekly the managing director of Geekay recycling Mr Gift Komboni highlighted that the initiative aims to reduce land fill crisis in Zimbabwe.
“Our goal is to maximize the extraction of recyclables from house to house, waste stream and reduce the waste landfill and address the land fill crisis in Zimbabwe. To achieve this, we focus on waste minimisation and separation at the source through our introduction of the trash bank which is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.
Our trash bank shall significantly cover every part of the country there by becoming a transactional banking facility where you deposit trash and get cash” said Komboni.
Through the bank people have the opportunity to earn direct cash incentives in their green bank accounts. The bank accounts are divided into two the first on being the eTrash2Life -Domestic.
“The eTrash2life -Domestic is specifically targeted at the domestic markets and for those who suppliers who have insurance policies and school fees to take care of. We are saying that the trash deposit value can be saved and redeemed to pay for school fees, life insurance, funeral insurance, car insurance and property insurance” said Komboni.
The second one is the eTrash4Cash.
“The eTrash4Cash is the traditional package where a supplier wants his or her money loaded into their Trash Green Card so they purchase goods and services. People can pay for the following services using trash funeral policies, airtime and data and ZESA electricity Tokens” alluded Komboni.
The company will be working with women as franchisees in different locations across Zimbabwe.
“The difference between us and the other recycling companies is that others they just go to the dump and then they buy from there but we are saying ,we do not have to go to the dump ,we can go there it is fine but over and above we want to capture the staff before it gets to the dump. Because that is putting too much pressure on the council financially, we are saying let us capture it while it is still in your kitchen or your house and let us generate value from that recyclable trash, we are saying that trash its actually money.
We will be working with women in different locations as our franchisees they will be supplying us with the trash and we will be giving them money to buy trash on a daily basis.” said Komboni
