Only 4% of
the municipal solid waste generated in Latin American and Caribbean cities is
recycled. This figure comes from the Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean (ECLAC), which highlights a gap of up to 16 percentage points
compared to developed countries. The same report suggests that this gap can be
closed and that it is not essential for the gross domestic product (GDP) to
increase in order to achieve it.
Lina
Aramburo (Colombia, 34 years old) also believes it is possible and has
developed Ecobot, machines designed to collect plastic bottles, aluminum cans,
and Tetra Pak containers that, in exchange for the packaging, dispense a
discount coupon redeemable at restaurants, stores, apps, and affiliated brands.
“Ecobot is
a means through which we connect the environmental commitment of companies with
the environmental commitment of individuals. It not only offers an innovative
way to recycle and dispose of packaging, but it also provides brands with an
effective tool to communicate their commitment to sustainability through our
machines, where they can customize the Ecobot and offer discount coupons for
recycling,” explains this industrial engineer, cum laude graduate from ICESI
University (Colombia).
Aramburo’s
company offers green marketing services to other businesses, providing brand
visibility on the machines already operating in supermarkets, shopping centers,
and universities in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. Additionally,
it offers the option to run internal sustainability campaigns by placing these
machines at corporate headquarters.
Aramburo’s
entrepreneurial spirit, combined with her environmental concerns, led her to
take action. “I was
concerned about the environmental crisis, pollution, garbage islands, and the
way people continue living their lives in cities while ignoring that reality.
Along with my brother, we decided to start a business together, knowing just
two things: first, that whatever we did had to have a positive environmental
impact; and second, that we needed to help develop our country and contribute
to society’s development and well-being,” she explains.
With that
mission, Ecobot has already recycled more than 7 million containers and
operates in over 120 locations, generating 22 direct jobs. Additionally, with
the containers they collect, they collaborate with recycler organizations and
foundations to ensure that the material is properly processed and generates
social impact.
Aramburo is
aware that recycling is just one of the three “R”s, alongside reducing and
reusing, so she believes Ecobot’s work still has much room for growth. “Our main
and most immediate challenge is to expand our coverage, to grow within the
cities and countries where we already operate, and later reach other countries.
In the medium term, the idea is to launch other sustainability-related projects
that complement what we do, broaden our impact, and are easier to scale. In the
medium to long term, the goal is to focus on solutions aligned with the first
‘R’: Reduce,” details the Colombian entrepreneur.
After
winning the Icesi 2019 Business Excellence Award from her alma mater, Aramburo
was named one of the 40 Under 40 in the Entrepreneurs category by the newspaper
La República. She has also been selected as one of the 35 Innovators Under 35
by MIT Technology Review in Spanish.
