December 2017 - res.cloudinary.com file · Web viewIt is worth noting there is no word in Tetun (local language) for recycling. Service. There are TWO parts to our service. Recycling

Handover Summary

Everest Recycling Solutions - Timor-Leste

December 2017

Team leader: Rebecca Pink

Group Leader: Alex Piatek

Trekkers:

Paola A. Ortega Samuel Swain Emily Love Alex Ng

Table of Contents

Service 3

© XYZ For Good Pty Ltd T/A Project Everest 2017

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How does it work? 3

Operations 4Customers 4Current customers: 5Customer Acquisition Process: 6Collection 6Truck driver 6Interns 6Facility/HQ 7Employee Education 7Stickers 7Legal and Insurance Requirements 7Segregator 8Manager 8Collection Calendar 8

Financials 8

What to do with the three types of products we are currently collecting? 9Aluminium 9Glass 9Plastic 10

Major Challenges 11Language 11Majority of the Timorese do not see the value of recycling 11Confusion between who is paying who for the collection 11

Where to from here? 12Suggested Week ONE goals 12

Important Documents: 13

AbstractEverest Recycling Solutions is an ideated and trialled recycling and segregation business

operating out of Dili, Timor. The business is currently registered as Project Everest in Timor-

Leste, and due to licensing laws must operate under Project Everest rather than ERS. Currently

there are six local businesses onboard that separate waste from recycling (aluminium, glass and

plastic) where it is collected on a scheduled basis.


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IntroductionRecycling 101: recyclable products such as glass, plastic and aluminium are not rubbish or

waste and should NOT be referred to as waste. Refer to them either as recycling, if possible.

Remember, recycling in Australia has existed for over 20 years, we are trying to change long

term perceptions and behaviours in Timor-Leste. It is worth noting there is no word in Tetun

(local language) for recycling.

ServiceThere are TWO parts to our service.

1. Recycling collection

2. Separation and onselling/creation of products of the recycling

Recyclable products we currently collect are:

● Aluminium cans (coke cans, beer, etc)

● Glass bottles (wine, beer, etc)

● Plastic bottles (mostly water bottles)

How does it work? ● Customers pay $5 (40L bin) or $10 (100L bin) for us to pick up their recycling. This is

per pick up with multiple pickups allowed (and encouraged) per week (Monday to

Friday) Ie, if there are two 100L collections per week that is $20 per week. . Currently we

are aiming to streamline the collection days to Monday and Thursday to reduce truck

driver payments. Currently we are only operating with $10 pickups, with O’beiro

occasionally paying $5 for a small amount. We are allowing this for O’beiro for the time

being as she is a valued customer and does not cancel the night before. She is also at a

very convenient location.


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● Customers can either separate the three types of products (aluminium, glass and plastic)

themselves into three separate bins or have all three products in the one bin collected.

● ERS also offers a complementary education session, performed by us (and by interns in

Tetun) to ensure that rubbish isn’t put in the same bin as recyclables. It is important to

identify the education session as a free service for the customer to help attain EOIs.

● Customers supply their own bins, however they can be purchased from us, $35 (40L)

and $70 (100L) bin. We supplied 3 bins for Hotel Timor and made $60 profit from buying

them from Delta III for $50 each and reselling for $70. We encourage you to explore this

avenue as it is easy money.

● A truck driver (Aminu) is paid $10 per hour to drive around in a truck to collect the

recycling between 9am and 10am. The recycling is then transported back to our

Headquarters (HQ). He often brings his friend Tody who helps with the collection. When

Tody comes, he and Amino share the $10.

The recyclables are then separated at our HQ - currently by us.

● Aluminium - onsold (currently 75c/kg) to Besi Tua (local agent that crushes cans and

sends them to Singapore for processing)

● Plastic Bottles - no long term ongoing solution confirmed. Star Products is a local

manufacturer that should be contacted ASAP to see whether he will take them (5 to

15c/kg). He was contacted late November but was not operating due to issues with his

land and government restrictions. PLease do NOT contact him until the end of the

month, as was contacted on 20/12 and still not operating. Also gave bottles to 3R

(university students group involved with recycling) to make bottle bins. We also

encourage you to build prototypes ASAP. Further information available towards end of

document

● Glass - Made concrete to test, no long term solutions confirmed as yet. RMS has been

contacted via email re the potential testing of glass aggregate concrete. Potential to

export to OI (world’s largest glass manufacturer) if glass is source separated (3 types)

Operations


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CustomersTarget: Businesses mainly western owned, or orientated such as Hotels, Bars and Restaurants

(Check Business Model Canvas’ for our value proposition) BMC click here.

Why: Our perceived value is that these types of businesses see the value in recycling, see it

could be a positive image for their business, are giving us a go and are our early adopters

This month we tried to pick up from where July left off by contacting all trial and expression of

interest (EOI) customers that they had gained so that recycling service could commence in

week 2 of project. We could not get in contact with all of them and decided it was a better use of

our time in country to progress with the business without those who could not be contacted. All

information about potential customers can be found in Expression of Interest Directory and

meeting minutes. Please ensure you have searched the whole drive for meeting minutes and

notes on any businesses before contacting them.

We have used a customer contact registry, however we have now moved to Hubspot. Please

ensure you utilise this. We have (hopefully) transcribed all of the contacts, what we contacted

them about, etc onto here.

Current customers:

Customer Collection Day Cost (US$ per week)

Relationship Other things to remember

Mobys Thursday 10 Satisfied Recyclables are mixed

Castaway Monday & Thursday

20 Manager is satisfied but staff

are not keen

Recyclables are mixed

Esplanada Friday 10 Neutral Recyclables are mixed


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O’berio Monday 5 or 10 Very Satisfied Recyclables are mixed

Plaza Hotel Monday 10 Satisfied Mainly plastic. Recyclables are

mixed

Hotel Timor Monday & Thursday

20 Key customer.Very Satisfied

Segregated into glass, aluminium

& plastic

Refer to Current customer SOP

Customer Acquisition Process:We have offered a 1 week PAID trial to customers, then revisited them after the week to see

how the trial went (feedback) then signed them (or tried to) onto a longer term or more

permanent collection service.

Please see the New Customer Acquisition SOP (standard operating procedure) for all the

questions needed to ask and confirm

CollectionSOP’s for venue collection can be found here: Long term customer SOP. The fastest route for

collection can be found here: fastest routes.

Truck driverFor the first week of our service, Al (owner of our accommodation) did the run for us in his big

yellow truck. This is because we could not get in contact with Aminu who is the Timorese driver

used in the week long trial in July. To find other drivers we stood out the front of the Palacio with

our intern Simao and waved down truck drivers and asked them to work for us for $10 an hour


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from Monday to Friday. We got some potential drivers but then finally managed to get into

contact with Aminu and his friend Tody through Facebook.

Aminu is enthusiastic and likes working with us however in the final days we found out that he

does not own the truck. He works for a guy that rents out his truck to him to sell fish and all

money made is given back to the owner and Aminu himself only makes $150 a month. He is still

happy to work for us but it really affects his other job as days he works for us he cannot sell fish

and does not make his daily quota unless we were to give him more hours. He has been reliable

at showing up for collection for the two weeks that we required him. Aminu brings his friend

Tody to assist with loading the recyclables on to the truck (particularly helpful for large

collections such as Hotel Timor). Aminu is paid $10/hr and when he brings Tody, they share the

$10/hr.

The collection schedule can be found HERE. In weeks 3 and 4, we had Aminu work only

Monday and Thursday as there was no collection scheduled for Tuesday and other days we

were able to save costs by getting Piatek or Lily to drive us to collect Esplanada’s waste in the

Passo.

InternsWe used two interns Aldo and Simao from UNTL (the local university) - they are indispensable.

Please contact them on the first week to keep them involved. They are under the impression

that they will be working along with the January team. They provide invaluable insight into

projects and are great for speaking to people in Tetun or Bahasa (Indonesian). They also want

to be heavily involved, so help them understand the business well. They are partners/members

of the team, not just interpreters. If they are coming, ensure that they have tasks to work on so

their time are not wasted. They are on uni break until the start of March and have been very

keen to help out.

Aldo +670 76189124

Simao +670 78524942

Leo +670 7759 5849 (only worked with us for one day)


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Facility/HQCurrently we are operating at Paradises (our accommodation). It is highly suggested that the

January and February teams look for land to operate from. Land is complicated in Timor as if

the government owns it can be taken back. December team decided due to the early stages of

the collection service, land was not viable for our month but should definitely be researched to

have land confirmation by the end of February. After some consultation with locals we should

not be paying more than $100/month.

Employee EducationAs part of every new service, ERS offers to teach staff (in Tetun with the help of the Interns)

how to recycle. A slide show has been produced both in english and in tetun

This was important, and would emphasise and encourage to apply as it has made segregation

improve later on.

StickersEach new service also receives A4 sized stickers for either the bins they have purchased from

us or their own bins. These are an important way of help staff recognise the area/bin to only put

recycling in. Beware that A4 stickers cost $1.50 each to print and this cost significantly adds up.

We have also made stickers (A5 size) for businesses to display where they choose to say that

they proudly recycle. These would be worth encouraging businesses to use and gives a

personal touch.

Legal and Insurance RequirementsDecember Team has not made significant changes to the documents made by the July team

regarding contracts for Drivers, etc. We have added responsibilities within the contracts. These


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should be double checked by a lawyer and then also double checked for translations before any

of them are signed.

In the event that ERS makes an annual profit of $6000 or more, ERS would have to pay tax.

Taxation payment guides and taxation law guides are listed in the December folder.

In the event that workers have to work on public holidays, under legal obligations of the law, all

workers are entitled double the wage. Do take note as Aminu the truck driver will be working on

1st January 2018 and he is entitled double the normal pay.

SegregatorThere is still a push to hire a segregator for $1.50 an hour. Currently it takes around 1 hour per

day for 1 person to separate the recycling into 3 different streams (aluminium, glass and plastic)

This would be worth doing to save team members times in completing.

ManagerAt this stage we did not see it necessary to hire a manager, as ERS will be here until February.

Suggest that the January and February teams pursue this to ensure the service can continue

between February and July when ERS is not here. It is advisable for interns to be heavily

involved in the business so that they will be potential candidates for the managerial role.

Collection CalendarA recycling collection calendar has been developed and should be added and checked as the

weeks progress to ensure you don’t miss any collections. This is a list of all business and their

days of collection we currently have.

Financials● $5 per pick up for small bins


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● $10 per pick up for large collections

● Driver costs $10/hour

● We have been doing single collections (ie if there is only one business to collect from)

● Large 100L bins (see Pin drop for location) cost $50 each, we charged $70 (profit of

$20)

● Small 40L bins we didn’t purchase in December as there are a number at our HQ

(Paradises). Charging $35/bin, but this is negotiable seeings as they have already been

purchased.

● Stickers currently cost $1.50 each, which are colour and are in Tetun and english with

visuals

For trials it might be worth trialing a “bin bond” where they can borrow the bin from ERS and

then either keep it if they continue the service or give the bin back and we give the bond money

back if they do not continue with the service.

As the collection operation started in December, the financial year will begin at 1st December

2017 and end at 30th Nov 2018. In the financials tab of the december folder, there are several

financial documents. All documents are to be done monthly. ERS Transaction Journals are daily

records of transactions that have occured in the month. ERS Balance Sheet states the financial

position of the company at month end. ERS Income statement lists the actual revenue and

expenses that the company has earned and incurred during the month. ERS Cash Flow

statement shows the actual inflow and outflow of the cash balance. Financial Projections show

the future monthly and yearly projections of ERS. It is based on the assumption that ERS will

grow at the rate of 25% per month. Projections are just predictions and not absolutes as they

are subjected to changes. Projections could change during the next month due to either

seasonal changes or behavioural changes of the community.

What to do with the three types of products we are currently collecting?

AluminiumStraight Forward.


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Store Separately in large white bags (called bulka bags) - call Besi Tua (need Google translate

or intern) to pick up when full. Note there are two companies which recycle aluminium, the one

to use is called ‘Best Tua’.

Price was $0.75c/kg and pick up is free.

GlassA lot of work needs to be done in this area, but here is what we have done in December.

Contacted OI (world’s largest glass manufacturer) - they are willing to take our glass (as much

as we can give them) and pay $60/tonne BUT must be separated (3 types) brown, green, clear.

(please see email chain [search Beth Wakefield in workhub email]). There are lots of logistics

behind this in terms of shipping, how much glass in a container etc. This should be mapped out

thoroughly to have a good handle on whether it is feasible and what the associated costs would

be.

Using glass as a partial gravel replacement in making concrete - We have created four ‘testing’

blocks of concrete.

1. Glass was smashed using a hammer and the glass was inside a jean leg.

2. The small piece of the glass were used to replace 10% and also 20% of the gravel used

to make concrete. Our mix was 4 parts gravel, 2 parts sand and 1 part cement

3. The four testing blocks of concrete are:

a. Control

b. 10% replacement of gravel

c. 20% replacement of gravel

d. Artistic style (probably doesn’t need to be tested)

We have been in contact with RMS (an Australian engineering company based in Dili) and they

have expressed they can test the strength of concrete and are open to experimenting with it.

Please contact Paul on the 5th of January.


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PlasticStar Products - is a plastic processor in Dili. Currently not operational as there are issues with

his land. There may be an opportunity to sell to him 5 to 15c/kg for hard plastics, but this has not

been pursued this month due to him being non-operational. Do contact Star Products to see if

they have started operations. Interns will be needed as Mr Zeca the owner does not speak

english. There is also an organisation called Hopeseller that had bins located around the city for

plastic bottles that they would collect and planned to shred however this never happened and

they are no longer operating as funding has run out (work from Feb and July teams).

Prototypes

December team also made some prototypes:

1. No electricity air conditioner - https://inhabitat.com/this-amazing-bangladeshi-air-cooler-

is-made-from-plastic-bottles-and-uses-no-electricity/

2. Using plastic bottles for a seedling starter box (might work well with Agriculture)

3. We partnered with 3R to make bins made from plastic bottles.Contact 3R again

Other outlets should be pursued including exporting, if feasible.

We also encourage you to develop/design a plastic bottle greenhouse using the collected

bottles. This has huge potential in the agricultural field in terms of both social impact and

financial feasibility.


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Major Challenges

LanguageAs the majority of Timorese do not speak English, empathising session with the local community

has to be done with the help of an Intern. Communication with Timorese businesses and

education session will require an Intern. Fortunately, Aldo is very proficient in conducting

education sessions and business pitches. This would be worth exploring, utilising, paying, or

encouraging members of 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - a volunteer organisation) to use on

a commission basis to bring businesses onboard.

Majority of the Timorese do not see the value of recyclingThere are currently no initiatives by the government in regards to recycling. There are no

recycling facilities provided by the Timorese government. All waste collected by waste collection

services are brought to the tip at Tibar to be burnt. This waste includes recyclables that ERS are

collecting. There are many businesses who are only concern with the financial cost of hiring

ERS and not interested in the benefits that recycling brings. Even the reputation of being an

eco-friendly company or the mention of their peers being eco-friendly were not enough to deter

them. For ERS current customers, even if the managers or owners see the value of recycling,

their staff do not. Managers are keen on recycling but their staff are only concerned that they

are paying more for a redundant service. This could be a factor to why the recyclables are

sometimes not well segregated from trash.

There is NO word in Tetun for Recycling. Aldo the intern has utilised the indonesian word for it.

Confusion between who is paying who for the collectionDue to the mindset that recycling is not important and the language barrier, there has been

several instances that businesses thought we were buying recyclables from them. From their

point of view, they have to segregate recyclables from trash. This would mean extra work from

their part. Turkish Ottoman, Farol Hotel, Beach Garden & Excelsior Hotel and Dili Club and

Pizza thought that ERS should be paying them for the recycling collection as they believe that


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they are selling them to us. Some of these businesses currently do not pay for waste collection

services thus they believe they should not have to pay for ERS collection service.

We have written in English, had translated to Tetun and Indonesian a sentence or two that

should hopefully make this clear . This needs to be checked by another intern (other than Aldo)

and should be used every time approaching a business.

Where to from here?1. Keep the collection service running. We have notified customers that no collection will

occur the week of Christmas, BUT it will start 1 January with Amino the driver again.

Major collection days are Monday and Thursday

2. Read thoroughly the standard operating procedures to ensure all of the items are

followed. This will make your lives easier in the long run and we have learnt from our

mistakes. We also suggest taking a step back and possibly re-empathising with people

to try and understand waste, particularly recycling (see major challenges) and the

refining the SOPs or adding additional ones to ensure we’re able to bring people and

businesses on board. This will be a slow process, particularly for local run businesses.

3. Refine the collection service routes in terms of timing

4. Find a permanent and ongoing end solution for Glass and Plastic (IMPORTANT to be

able to gain more customers)

5. Find a permanent HQ, with good storage for plastics and glass. Jonny, who is mates

with Tony from Esplanada has access to shipping containers when needed - so decide

on this ASAP.

6. Maintain a strong relationship with our interns Simao, Aldo and Leo as well as the crew

from 3R.

7. Continue to pursue the Minister of Tourism. Guido has identified that they are pushing

strongly towards environmental inititives in the new year to boost tourism. Bec met with

Pepito, one of the secretaries who reinforced this and told us to get into contact in the

new year (that’s you :) ). Kaka from 3R also works at the Ministry and has offered to help

set up a meeting - so please follow that up ASAP.


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Suggested Week ONE goals1. Ensure collections are ongoing and introduce yourselves to current customers. Bec, the

team leader for December will be available for any introductions, questions if necessary.

We need to continue our service with these customers as we are under legal obligation

(signed contracts).

2. Read and understand the SOPs in the drive.

3. Rethink the business model. In our last week we came across many businesses that did

not want to continue our service. Look into some of the following: lowering price of

collection, get business to segregate but we collect all of it - general waste is taken to

Tibar and recyclables are taken to HQ.

4. Do a BMC to understand value proposition of service based on our current customers

and customers lost. See if this should be changed.

5. Start looking for someone to pay to segregate the recycling (this is fun for the first week,

but becomes time consuming). Payment for segregators should be $1.50/hour.

6. Work on finding a permanent solution to glass and plastic long term ie. exporting large

quantities, logistics and cost involved, feasibility of land etc.

7. Contact RMS about testing glass aggregate concrete strength (they are back in office on

the 4th Jan - see emails with Eric)

8. Prototype with bottles. We would suggest building a plastic bottle greenhouse in

conjunction with the Ag Assessment team. Gembell Art group (next to Lita) may be keen

to assist.

9. Contact interns (Aldo and Simao) - Suggest to do day one. Even if just for introductions

and let them know you are here.

10. Contact 3R to see how their plastic bottle bins went. Also check in with Kaka in regards

to meeting with the Minister of Tourism.

Important DocumentsPlease read the following documents. These are crucial as ERS is already operating as a

business in Timor-Leste and you need to be prepared to begin collections from day 1. You will

need to be in contact with existing customers and EOIs immediately to ensure a seamless

transition between months.


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Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

There are 5 standard operating procedures

● New Customer Acquisition - read and understand before engaging with a new or

potential customer

● Long Term Customer Collection - confirm all these details for documentation (general)

● Specific Long Term Customers - current long term customer SOPs when collecting

● Driver - a checklist for your team and the driver to remember

● End of Week - ensure these are completed by the end of each week

Note: please read these SOPs thoroughly, they are important, as they have been made based

on mistakes and improvements we have tried to make in December. Please edit and change as

you see fit and as the service improves.

Hubspot is where all the information needs to be kept when talking to people for meetings and

over the phone. Please see the SOP regarding this Hubspot SOP

If you are a visual learner and want to understand the way Dili is laid out (helpful for the first

week bearings) check out the map and understand it. Please see Google Map - key spots,

routes etc.


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