Wastebender is a tech startup realizing sustainable consumption & production ecosystem in Indonesia.

Among numerous environmental challenges in the ASEAN region, the rapid growth of volumes of waste and a complex waste composition is one of the prominent challenges. In Indonesia, the amount of waste tends to increase because of population growth, industrial development, urbanization, and modernization are increasing as well. Organic waste is a type of waste that has the largest proportion of 60% of the total waste. Surprisingly, the household is the largest contributor of waste but only less than 1% of them sorted and managed their waste (National Socio-Economic Survey, 2014). Those are why Indonesia got predicate as the second largest waste contributor country in the world in 2015. The 3-R behavior (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and the composter tools both using aerobic and anaerobic technique is the most well-known solution but it has obstacles in its implementation. There are many people who do not implement the 3R program because of the lack of facilities that support 3R and the composting process requires expertise, regular monitoring so that it requires considerable time and effort so that not everyone can do it. The lack of waste management and facility in Indonesia motivates us to create Wastebender that strives to realize the zero waste and sustainable consumption and production ecosystem in Indonesia through technology and smart data. Wastebender actualizes the responsible waste management by creating an integrated electronic device that can transform organic waste into organic compost easily, quickly and efficiently called Automatic Waste Processor (AWP). By targeting the household, urban farmer, planting community, plant hobbyist, eco-concept residences, restaurant, hotel, and corporate as its market, Wastebender encourages them to manage their waste independently to realize the responsible waste management in upstream level and also the circular economy in Indonesia. This business was founded in early September 2018 and it has been working in Sidoarjo & Surabaya, East Java. Wastebender creates AWP technology that allows customers to process their waste independently to make ready-to-use compost. Unlike ordinary compost that requires expertise, long time to process, regular monitoring, AWP makes it easy to reduce the organic waste because the composting process will run automatically. In the process of using AWP, customers and their families will also get the education on how to sort waste, how to make compost and how to use compost to improve soil quality and grow crops so they will apply the 3R concept and responsible consumption in their daily lives. AWP can also calculate customer efforts in protecting the environment because AWP is equipped with features that can calculate the amount of waste and methane gas that has been successfully reduced and the number of composts that are made each month which can be accessed using the android application. In addition, AWP will not produce unpleasant odors when the composting process takes place because AWP is equipped with a carbon filter that actively absorbs unpleasant odors from the composting process. Wastebender also provides post-product waste management in collecting the non-used compost and inorganic waste and transform it into recyclable products by empowering our beneficiaries, the waste picker or pemulung and women around Wastebender so they will have additional income to encourage the prosperity of their family.