Clemens Feigl | Co-Founder
Interview given to Ms Maria Louisa Vafiadaki
-What is the vision behind Everwave and which key problem are you addressing through your work ?
We want to prevent the oceans from getting heavily polluted. There is already a lot of plastic floating in the oceans and we try to stop that. It is estimated that 9-12 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year mainly through the rivers. This is exactly where we try to stop the plastic. We have built technologies, boats and platforms to collect plastic and other floating waste in the rivers, in dams and implement it around the world. Therefore, our vision is a responsible society for healthy oceans.
Interestingly, in our vision there is no technology involved because we can build as many boats as we want, but we don’t change our behavior in terms of the use of plastic in general, consumption, production or the way we think about materials in general. The society and the responsibility of the society is our main focus.
-How come you deal with rivers and not oceans ?
Back in 2017, our initial idea was to build a platform for the open ocean. This was the big vision, but studies are clear that economically and ecologically it doesn’t make sense to work in the open ocean; it is too expensive, not the impact you wish for, plus you destroy life when you work in the ocean. 1.000 rivers are responsible for more than 80% of the plastic pollution in the ocean. This is why we decided to focus on rivers.
They are smaller scale and there is more control this way. Another reason why we decided to focus on rivers is the quality of the materials you collect. The plastic is entering the ocean heavily destroyed by salt water and sun. So, the earlier we get it out of the environmental the better it is for the cycle.
-Do you focus on plastic or you deal with all types of waste ?
We deal with all types of waste which doesn’t belong there. For example, in Cambodia, we see that 20% of the waste is textile (e.g. flipflops, shirts, trousers…)
-What is the mechanism behind Everwave ? Can you share with us your technology and how does it make you stand out from other companies ?
We always want to work with local boat operators, as we see a clear connection between creating jobs with what we are doing in the projects themselves. We use AI in several levels of creating data; for example, we fly drones over some regions and the AI tells us where what type of waste we find and where exactly we find it. We also have 3 boats and send them to collect the waste.
The next step of AI is we will have camera systems on the boat, but we are using the images not only to collect waste, but also to collect data. This helps us in 2 ways: the recycling process becomes more efficient because we know what we bring to shore and recycling can be done faster.
Also, there is such a huge lack of data and knowledge about which type of waste we have, where it comes from and with data we can let local authorities know the type of waste, who is the producer, who uses it and this helps waste management structure for the problem to be solved. Our goal is to give people know how to change things on a daily basis. We see waste that we need to change.
Concerning the collection, our boats are super efficient; we can collect up to 20 tons of waste per day which is a lot.
-You are operating as a company and want to make profit in a sustainable way. Is this business model working out well for you so far, what are the challenges involved in growing with sustainable profit ?
AI, collection, recycling, inspiring: these are the 4 key pillars of our strategy since the beginning and they all cost money. The product we are offering to the B2B market is called Plastic credit. If a company has a waste footprint through its product- logistics, production, employees- and it can’t reduce it or change it fast, it still can take over responsibility and collect the same amount of waste through our project.
The biggest advantage for us is that plastic or the waste in waterways is visible. Co2 for example is not visible. Through data collection and visuals, we prove what we are doing impact on a daily basis. This is helping us to be as transparent as possible and it is helping companies communicate their own positive impact.
-In what ways do you think Everwave can impact human behavior towards the huge problem of waste ?
The biggest challenge is becoming more sustainable as a society. In terms of CO2 and plastic, we don’t have the time to wait to create a circular economy or wait for our behavior to change. In Cambodia for example, nobody is talking about circular economy. This is why we use the plastic credit as an action to take now, but we clearly see the need to change in the long run... Therefore, we try to tackle the challenge from both directions and meet somewhere in the middle in a few years…
How did you come up with this idea ?
We are three founders and the initial idea came from my co-founder. The motivation is that we see the change of the situation and we all love the ocean in different ways (I am a surfer). It is so obvious that change is imperative.
If you see something and you have the feeling its wrong, you need to make the first step. It’s really about “let’s do something about it” and that’s the motivation behind it really...
What are your sources of funding ?
We have quite good revenue and we now have 5 investors on board, therefore we have external investors who support us to scale up. We are in a good place where we know how the product is working, we have the technology so we now need to develop our project. Additional funding through investors and companies is always welcome as we have to scale up our operations.
What are your goals for the near future ?
Our main goal until 2025 is to have 10 million kgs of waste collected; At the moment we reached 1 million. We also aspire to keep creating local jobs and in the long run. As a company, we want to be one of the most known players in the plastic credit market because of the quality of our services, transparency and social aspect. At the end of the day, it’s all about growing your business socially.
Case Study:
Thank you.