One of the major problems in developing areas is the disposal of waste.

Solid waste basically means garbage from our homes and even businesses. Industrial waste also falls in here.

In every country, solid waste is growing annually in amount and in toxicity. More and more of our daily products contain toxic chemicals. And without proper disposal, our personal health and our environment is in danger.

But waste is a human concept. There’s no such thing as waste in nature. Whatever might be considered waste created from a natural process quickly becomes raw material for another process.

And that is what human beings ought to learn from nature. That recyling is important.

Taka Smart Nature There are many initiatives by individuals, governments, and non-governmental organisations to help with the proper disposal of waste. And also with recycling and re-use.

Taka Smart is a social enterprise that rewards communities in crowded urban spaces with “Taka Points” in exchange for recyclable waste. In simple terms, they are rewarding you to dispose solid waste.

How this works is simple:

You register for their service by texting 20414. Like this –> ts register Dickson Otieno
They have collection centres/points. So when you have your waste collected and you deliver it to them, you earn TAKA Points. You can check your points by SMS. Text ts balance to 20414.
Now the fun bit is this, in the near future, these points of yours will be converted to airtime, or might even be used to buy goods! This should be done through ts airtime <amount>.

There is a 4 member team behind the project and they have listed their missions as:

To ensure proper disposal of solid waste and encourage recycling habit among the young and old, alike.

I hope they are planning on covering all universities in the country. If you are in an area where they have a Taka point, register and be part of this good initiative.