White Paper Summary of the Waste Management System (WMS) Waste Management fueled by Blockchain White Paper Summary of the Waste Management System (WMS)

Content Waste management: a critical issue Agora Tech Lab’s (ATL) objective The waste management system (WMS) Fueled by Blockchain How does it work? Democratization of urban governance Overcoming the major challenge of recycling The future of ATL

Waste Managment: a critical issue In 2012 the World Bank predicted that by 2025, global urban waste will have increased by 70%. Without solid waste management, sustainable and livable cities cannot be build. This is especially true for fast-growing cities in the developing world.

Agora Tech Lab’s (ATL) objective Agora Tech Lab (ATL) aims to help cities create participatory waste frameworks for urban governance, like waste management. By using blockchain technology, urban dwellers can easily be compensated for their contribution to society in exchange for a local token that can be traded for governmental services. By doing so, ATL helps urban communities become more efficient, and contribute to social cohesion by rewarding responsible and communal behavior.

The Waste Management System (WMS) By rewarding citizens for recycling, waste collection becomes a community effort. Citizens are rewarded for recycling with tokens (a digital asset on Ethereum) which can be stored in the WMS-application. The tokens received for recycling can be used for personal use to be exchanged for governmental services. But tokens can also be pooled together so neighborhoods can save for new neighborhood services. This for instance happened in the city of Enschede, where citizens performed voluntary work in exchange for a community center.

Fueled by blockchain Blockchain technology makes it easier to create fast and secure networks to transfer value of data. It is a protocol on which smart platforms can be build in order to improve governance systems. By using the Ethereum network, ATL has already developed a wallet which allows for QR-code and NFC transactions using Proof Suite so tokens can be be received.

How does it work? The following infographic shows how the WMS works: Step 1: waste is generated and collected Step 2: waste is brought to a recycling center Step 3: tokens are received as reward Step 4: tokens are exchanged for public services

Democritization of urban governance The WMS system incentivizes local citizens to participate in waste collection. By doing so, authorities have to spend less resources on urban management the social cohesion of communities is strengthened. This can be illustrated by illustrated by the following pyramid of (waste management) participation: No public participation Waste processing Waste processing Public participation in waste management process Waste collection Waste collection Waste production Waste production Current Situation After implementing WMS

Overcoming the major challenge of recycling One of the challenges of recycling is that not everyone is willing to participate. ATL wants to overcome this issue by implementing a “collect my waste” feature in its application. Citizens can choose to have their recyclable waste collected by fellow locals. By doing so, they can contribute to their community with very little effort.

Future vision ATL aims to help global communities creating circular communities. We believe that waste management is just the start and that more participatory can be created with blockchain, like voluntary work. Please join us in building the cities of tomorrow!

Questions?