Capgemini is working with Heng Hiap Industries to design an innovative business roadmap for a new mobile application, which rewards and simplifies the process of plastic waste recycling for consumers in their communities.
Heng Hiap Industries works with over 28,000 domestic plastic recyclers to buy and convert plastic scraps into high performance resin before selling it to clients that include top South Korean appliance manufacturers and Japanese automotive companies.
The company acknowledged it was struggling to keep pace with the demand for quality recycled plastic as the collection processes were manual and complex, involving pen and paper transactions as well as in-person negotiation.
By digitally transforming its plastic recycling operations, Heng Hiap aims to collect more and better-quality plastic by extending its collection infrastructure beyond informal collectors and grassroots recyclers, all the way to the household level, through a simplified and user-friendly collection process.
In the long term, the plastic recycling company envisions creating a truly circular economy for plastics by helping its business-to-business (B2B) customers address the growing pressure from eco-conscious consumers for greater transparency and traceability.
Target
The collaborated has created a 5-year business model to help make the company’s vision into a reality.
The team had a clear focus on key success factors:
- leveraging conscious consumers as driving the demand for recycled plastics;
- making the adoption of the solution attractive to both collectors and consumers; and
- providing a solution that meets the public compliance and sustainability commitments of the brands that consumers love.
Reimagining plastic recycling using mobile technology
One of the central elements proposed is a mobile application designed to revolutionize the plastic recycling process by introducing a new way for consumers to recycle their waste.
Through the app, consumers can request a pickup of their recyclables from their doorstep while collectors can respond to requests, plan routes, track consumer satisfaction ratings, and receive payments digitally.
Not only does the app make collection easier, it also motivates consumers to recycle their plastic waste through gamifying the process by earning points each time they recycle their plastics.
This solution helps introduce a new source of plastic directly from households, that can be sorted and cleaned, and enhances visibility on the transportation and overall processing of plastic waste.
Seah Kian Hoe, founder and managing director of Heng Hiap Industries, said the goal is to make plastic recycling simple, convenient, and worthwhile.
“With integrated traceability and digitization innovations, we can achieve a greener world and keep waste out of the ground and oceans for good. Capgemini is a believer in digitalization and sustainability, hence we chose them as our innovation partner for expansion, particularly in the Southeast Asia region,” said Seah.
“The greatest environmental impact we can have is through the services that we create and deliver to our clients and this successful partnership is yet another proof point of Capgemini’s capabilities to rewrite the playbook and translate sustainability and inclusivity into revenue-generating business imperatives,” said Sumit Nurpuri, chief operating officer of Capgemini in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
