Blockchain enabled platform Banqu partners with Coca Cola in South Africa

As part of Global Recycling Day , beverage company Coca-Cola South Africa and blockchain-based supply chain and Blockchain enabled economic passport platform BanQu are rolling out a payment platform to financially empower informal waste reclaimers and buyback centres in a boost to the local recycling sector. 

“Waste reclaimers who collect waste packaging perform one of the toughest, yet most important jobs in the circular economy and, up until now, they have remained mostly invisible and unbanked. This innovative blockchain-based solution provides a platform to financially empower waste reclaimers and small buyback centres across South Africa,” says Coca-Cola Africa sustainability director David Drew.

BanQu creates a permanent, personal record of the transactions for each waste picker, enabling them to demonstrate their earnings to access credit. It also enables cashless transactions that reduce the risk associated with cash to both reclaimers and buyback centres and enables direct financial support for waste reclaimers. By recording the contribution of the informal sector as a whole to the recycling value chain, the platform improves both understanding and recognition of the important contribution of waste reclaimers and buyback centres, the companies posit.

Coca-Cola selected BanQu as a partner based on the impact it has achieved to date and its record with working with small-scale farmers across Africa.