The ZeroNet is an intelligent collection network – based on a consumer app and a driver app - that facilitates an easy way for many different kinds of unwanted products and materials to be collected directly from the homes of domestic consumers. In other words, you won’t have to bring your unwanted stuff to another location, we will come to you! By collecting in this ‘source separated’ manner, far greater value can be recovered from the materials or products recovered.

The ZeroNet consists of 2 parts: a user app that allows you to register a collection request and a driver app that permits a delivery or charity organisation to come to your house with a list of materials to collect. By collecting from many different homes at the same time and by collecting several different kinds of materials or products from your home at the same time, it makes the ZeroNet model very efficient and cost effective to operate.

We are working actively with both the reuse and not-for-profit sectors including ApparelXchange specialising in unwanted school uniforms recovery as well as commercial enterprises such as Re-tek who plan to use the ZeroNet to recover still functioning electrical and electronic items. We are also working with Nathan's Wastesavers to assist in the recovery of unwanted garments and textiles. We are planning to provide the charity and reuse sectors with a low-cost and reliable flow of still usable products and materials.

Recycling is still very important and we should continue to practice it . However, As this extra processing requires energy and also produces waste, as a rule of thumb, reuse is environmentally preferable to recycling because it saves the energy that comes with having to dismantle and re-manufacture products. It also significantly reduces waste and pollution because it reduces the need for raw materials thus saving forests, water supplies, and fragile ecosystems. Scotland in particular is making great strides to create the necessary environment to encourage reuse over recycling. This has even found its way into national policy - find out more in this strategy document from the Scottish Government: "Making Things Last - A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland".

We are planning to collect many different categories of materials including several categories of EEE (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) such as old computers, TVs, printers and many others. We are also planning to recover unwanted cables for recycling. In addition, we are also planning to collect unwanted textiles and clothing and in particular, we are seeking to recover school uniform items so that these can be repaired and reused again. We have plans to introduce many other services onto the platform over time.

Whilst there are many platforms and forums that allow donations for reuse, the ZeroNet differs in that it permits a very smart way of collecting products and materials from the home in a way that is extremely convenient for householders. By gather data (via the ZeroNet app) from many different homes about the location of products and materials, we can create a very efficient collection mechanism. Many brands, including several global household brands, are particularly interested in being able to recover their own pre-owned products for a second life such as reuse, refurbishment and re-manufacturing and we have many testimonials from these brands supporting our plans for a Scotland launch.

“A circular economy is a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops. This can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing and recycling. This is in contrast to a linear economy which is a 'take, make, dispose' model of production.” (Source: Wikipedia)

It’s no secret that Scotland is taking an early lead in its plans to become a zero waste society. This vision describes a Scotland where all waste is seen as a resource; Waste is minimised; valuable resources are not disposed of in landfills, and most waste is sorted, leaving only limited amounts to be treated. We believe that the ZeroNet could help with Scotland’s zero waste ambitions by increasing the value that can be recovered from post-consumer materials and products through reuse and remanufacturing. We have been working closely with Zero Waste Scotland for a number of years now and they supported us – through funding – for our first succesful live pilot which took place in Stirling in March, 2019.

We have worked closely for some time now with Stirling based environmental consultants Enscape Consulting to help us to pilot and test the ZeroNet launch platform locally. In addition, our client and funder Zero Waste Scotland are based in Stirling so it seems right to pilot the service there.

We are also currently in discussions with many major brands who have expressed a strong interest in recovering their own products directly from the home. This is motivated by the opportunities for increased reuse as well as to help these brands explore new ways of allowing consumers to access their products including rental and leasing. These brands include Apple, HP, Dell, H&M and many more.

From a Scottish perspective, we are also in active discussions with many different Scotland stakeholders who have expressed a keen Interest in using the ZeroNet to recover many different categories of materials.

We have many different services planned for the coming months and years including:

• Used paint recovery

• Smart lightbulb recovery and remanufacture

• Circular Economy Business Models

One of the ‘missing links’ needed to permit the widespread adoption of the Circular Economy is the existence of a professionalised collection network (sometimes referred to as ‘reverse logistics’) to facilitate the easy recovery of products and materials from consumers. The ZeroNet is a direct response to this requirement – there is ample material available online on the subject. You'll find a good explainer here.

Circular Economy Business Models keep products and materials in use, by design, for as long as possible to get the maximum value from them. For more detailed information on CEBMs, have a look here (with thanks to Zero Waste Scotland).

The ZeroNet’s primary purpose is to facilitate the easier recovery and re-use of pre-used products or materials from householders. When implemented at scale, this could help reduce the need to continuously extract raw materials from the ground which requires far more energy and produces more pollution than with secondary materials. A good example is aluminium which when recycled uses only 5% of the energy and produces 5% of the CO2 when compared with ‘raw’ aluminium. Click here for full story.

1. The ZeroNet permits many different categories of unwanted materials or products to be registered or ‘geo located’ to any given address in the UK (Scotland initially

2. The ZeroNet app is customisable to present services that are localised to different locations – this means that the app will change appearance and functions depending on where it is deployed. New services can be deployed quickly and simply

3. The ZeroNet will permit smart doorstep collections of unwanted post-consumer products and materials in a highly efficient manner with multiple notifications to householders via the app

4. The ZeroNet will facilitate peace of mind to those concerned about their personal data regarding any old data bearing IT equipment recovered. Simply put, we will ensure that all your data is securely erased and you will receive a notification – via the ZeroNet app when this has taken place.

5. The ZeroNet will facilitate – over time – the deployment of new ways of consuming that will eliminate the creation of waste. These are sometimes referred to as ‘Circular Economy Business Models’ or CEBMs, and we have several of these already in the pipeline. An example of a CEBM is ‘Light as a Service’ whereby a householder never actually owns any lightbulbs but simply enters into a contract to purchase ‘light’. In such models, the way in which the broken lightbulb is recovered is critical – and that’s where the ZeroNet comes in!