Nuwan Jaliyagoda

In today’s increasingly congested world, waste generation is rising fast: in 2019 alone, the world’s cities produced 2 billion tons of solid waste, and with continued urbanization and population growth, annual waste generation is expected to grow by 70% by 2050.

While richer nations such as the USA and Japan produce more waste in absolute terms, the challenges of waste management are very different in the developing world. In countries like Sri Lanka, garbage is rarely collected on a regular schedule, municipalities are often underfunded, and the low status and poor salaries associated with garbage collection make it difficult to build a trained, effective workforce.

Zero Trash addresses this gap by providing a communication platform that directly connects householders with garbage collectors, something that had not previously existed (at least not successfully) in Sri Lanka. The platform can lower the cost of garbage collection, help route recyclable materials to the appropriate recycling centers instead of landfills, and create additional income for both garbage collectors and householders.

The project was developed as a Software Engineering course project; more details are available on the project page.