Empower, a love affair with plastic waste
February 14, 2021
As Empower celebrates its third birthday on this day, it is a good opportunity to look back and reflect on the journey the founders have been on together with the team so far.
2018 — mutual attraction, butterflies and infatuation
It was love at first sight. Empower has since its early days proven its drive to make a change in the plastic crisis status quo. Combining new technologies with the Norwegian plastic bottle deposit system, the founders were out to make an impact. By giving plastic a value, Empower incentivised the collection of plastic waste in local communities while fighting poverty and providing livelihoods to waste pickers at the same time. The Empower digital deposit system provided transparency and traceability for the transactions, and yet so easy to deploy and cost-efficient at the same time.
The idea gave butterflies and people fell in love with Empower. From the first blockchain-driven beach clean-up in Norway to collection in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Laos, Empower was invited to speak at the OECD’s first ever forum on blockchain. Featured in Forbes, The Independent, and Moneyweek, Empower was unstoppable. Consumed by love and unrelenting support, it all culminated in December 2018 when Empower was crowned the XYNTEO Impact Maker Award winner of the year.
2019 — insecurity, vulnerability and the search for self-growth
Empower needed to scale up and was growing at a rapid pace. The digital deposit system was great, but not perfect for closing the plastic loop. There was increasing demand for higher volumes of quality recycled plastics, a real need to optimize the current supply chain with traceability and mapping the waste streams escaping the system. The Empower digital tracking system made its first appearance as everyone held their breath in expectation for Empower’s next big plans. Our projects extended to ten more countries, ideas and projects were flowing, but at the price of growth pains. The journey to find focus and the true calling of its impact was marred by fatigue and frustrations.
Among ups and downs, Empower still very much welcomed the year end with a bang — selected to be the top 25 solutions for Sustainable Development Goals to be showcased at Expo Dubai 2020’s (now in 2021) Global Best Practice Programme and its first sizeable investment round from angel investors.
2020 — A relationship requires work and commitment, ”awww”!
As the world is swept up in the pandemic waves, Empower tried to stay afloat and keep its head above water. As events and clean-ups were cancelled, Empower focused on developing its digital projects and refining its business model. The team took its time to establish the much-needed processes and structures to scale up. Despite the uncertainty of the future, the fog of our vision has lifted: The Empower Platform for A World Without Waste (Awww). As Empower grew through the Alliance to End Plastic Waste x Plug&Play accelerator, we strengthened our value proposition for a circular economy together with collection partners from all over the world.
By the end of 2020, Empower incentivised and tracked over 500 tons, as well as engaged over 7000 people from 18 countries. Empower was also recognized for its efforts by winning the 2020 Impact Award by the European Commission, through the European Social Innovation Competition, for having made the most impact throughout the year.
2021 — in it for the long (circular) run
Three years is no small feat for a startup. As new projects and plans are shaping up for this year, the team is working hard to scale the Empower Platform for the world stage. Please wish us the best of luck for this adventure of a lifetime, and join us to make an impact, right HERE, right NOW!
It only takes a moment to fall in love with our vision of a world without waste…
…a few moments to make it our mission to build a digital infrastructure for a circular economy…
…but a lifetime to prove our impact!
We look forward to the next chapter of this love affair with plastic waste.
Happy Birthday Empower!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Empower
