Country of Residence
Nigeria
Age
19
Project title
CleanDrain EcoHub
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
CleanDrain EcoHub is a recycling system tackling urban market flooding and plastic waste in Onitsha, Nigeria. It incentivize community waste collection using USSD mobile payouts, compress collected plastics into industrial flakes, and sell them to manufacturing companies to create a self-sustaining circular economic model.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryann-chukwuemeka-b1252a418?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
I grew up in Onitsha, Nigeria. During the rainy season, major commercial hubs like Upper Iweka and Relief Market consistently overflow with discarded plastic waste, clogging drainage systems and causing severe flooding. I realized that simply telling traders and residents to stop littering does not work—we have to give them a tangible financial reason to keep their environment clean. This inspired my idea for CleanDrain EcoHub: a community recycling system that incentivizes waste disposal by paying collectors directly via an easy-to-use USSD method on their mobile phones. The collected plastic waste is then processed and compressed into industrial flakes and sold in bulk to manufacturing companies. This transforms plastic waste from a public health hazard into a profitable, self-sustaining circular business model that empowers the local community.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
In commercial cities like Onitsha, poor waste disposal infrastructure leads to millions of tons of single-use plastics blocking urban drainage channels. During heavy rainy seasons, this blocked infrastructure causes floods that submerge market stalls, destroy goods worth millions of Naira, disrupt local livelihoods, and spread waterborne diseases. This problem matters deeply to my community because traders—many of whom depend on daily income—suffer direct economic loss whenever market sectors flood.Without a localized system that turns waste into immediate value, residents continue dumping plastics into gutters, causing a cycle of environmental degradation, economic vulnerability, and health risks.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
CleanDrain EcoHub operates a localized, tech-enabled waste recovery model designed specifically for high-density market sectors. Incentivized Collection: We establish neighborhood collection hubs near flood-prone markets. Community members and traders drop off sorted plastic waste. USSD Payout System: To ensure digital financial inclusion for everyone—including those without smartphones or formal bank accounts—collectors enter their waste weight at the hub and receive micro-payments instantly via an offline USSD mobile money transfer. Processing & Circularity: The aggregated plastic waste is sorted, cleaned, and processed through a mechanical crusher into high-purity plastic flakes. Financial Sustainability: These processed flakes are sold in bulk to industrial manufacturing and recycling partners as raw material. The revenues generated cover operational costs, sustain the USSD payout reserve, and fuel expansion into neighboring commercial districts. By combining simple mobile technology with a commercial incentive, CleanDrain EcoHub turns a severe environmental threat into an economic resource for the community.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
As an early-stage project, our projected impact focuses on pilot deployment in Onitsha's major market zones over the first 12 months: Environmental Impact: Target the recovery and conversion of over 10 metric tons of plastic waste away from urban drainage channels during our pilot phase, significantly reducing market flooding severity during peak rainy seasons. Economic & Civic Impact: Directly empower 500+ local traders, informal waste collectors, and youth with supplementary income through immediate USSD micro-payouts. Community Engagement: Engage at least 2,000 market residents in environmental stewardship, proving that community-led waste collection can be both profitable and civic-minded. This model is designed to be scalable across other flood-vulnerable commercial cities in West Africa.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Unlike conventional government recycling schemes or corporate waste drives that rely on voluntary participation or costly app-based logistics, CleanDrain EcoHub introduces three key innovations: Accessibility via USSD: Most tech-driven recycling solutions rely on smartphone apps, excluding grassroots collectors and informal market traders. Our offline USSD integration ensures instant, accessible digital financial rewards for anyone with a basic feature phone. Self-Sustaining Revenue Model: Instead of relying permanently on grants or donations, we process collected plastics directly into industrial-grade flakes. Selling processed flakes directly to manufacturing companies creates a dependable revenue loop that funds ongoing payouts and hub operations. Targeted Hyper-Local Focus: By situating recovery hubs directly inside high-risk commercial flood zones (like Relief Market), we intercept plastic waste directly at the source before it enters municipal drainage systems.
How many people are on your team?
1
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I am currently leading CleanDrain EcoHub as the founder and the project lead.I plan to onboard two co-leads: a Community Operations Officer to manage market hub logistics and collections, and a Technical Lead to manage the USSD payout integration and machinery operations.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next three months, our development roadmap consists of three core phases: Stakeholder Mapping & Community Engagement (Month 1): Secure informal partnerships with local Onitsha market association leaders and waste collector groups to establish baseline collection protocols and hub locations. Technical & Logistics Setup (Month 2): Finalize the USSD mobile payout API partnership with local fintech service providers and source local machinery suppliers for plastic flake crushing. Pilot Launch (Month 3): Roll out a 30-day pilot program targeting 1 market sector, onboarding our first 100 registered collectors to test waste volume throughput and payout delivery.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We activate community members by turning passive environmental education into active civic engagement with immediate rewards: Market Advocacy & Workshops: We will host localized "Clean Markets, Clean Pockets" town halls in collaboration with market trader unions to educate members on how drainage blockages harm their businesses, and how CleanDrain EcoHub turns that waste into income. Youth & Trader Ambassador Network: We will recruit local market youth as "EcoHub Ambassadors" who will earn performance bonuses for onboarding neighboring shop owners and managing peer-to-peer waste sorting. Public Recognition: We will create monthly leaderboard recognition within the market hubs to celebrate top community collectors, fostering healthy civic competition and collective ownership over clean drainage systems.
