A tech start-up is hoping to make recycling easier for Lebanese households with their mobile app Limm.
Following several months of a rubbish-collecting crisis that left the streets of the capital Beirut overflowing with rubbish, the app aims to encourage residents to lead a greener life.
The app will connect households with local recycling waste collectors to arrange rubbish pickups. Nicolas Farah, the founder of Limm, which means 'to collect' in Arabic, received a $3000 USD funding award after winning first prize at start-up competition in Beirut.
Farah explained that the app would help residents more easily recycle many types of waste.
“If you are someone who recycles garbage in your household, then whenever you have any kind of waste, whether it is glass, plastic, metal, or paper, you can send a notification from your mobile phone and these notifications reach a server and the person who is responsible for collecting waste. They will get a notification that you are ready to have the waste picked up and they will come and collect it” he said.
The app would also allow collectors to earn more money by carrying out door-to-door collections, all recorded through a points system on the app.
“This collector has a profile on the application and, in the app he has points that he can collect depending on how much rubbish is being collected,” Farah said.
Recycling companies could also participate by offering rewards to households based on the quality and quantity of their recyclable material.
Web developer Mostapha Samhoury said he joined the team at Limm as he was impressed with the unique idea and wanted to do something to help reduce waste.
''I liked the idea, it was the first time I heard of such an idea when he went on stage and I was very interested in it. We are already suffering from the rubbish problem, so I said I have to join and give and share with them everything I know, so that we can finally create something that would work and be effective and we can solve the problem that we all are suffering from,” he said.
Farah said he expects the application to be up and running by the end of August this year.
REUTERS