Green Putrajaya App from Malaysia - Green Skills Award 2024 Finalist
A passion for education and the environment prompted Malaysian teacher Saharudin Setapa to invent a mobile telephone App that can help residents of Putrajaya, a city south of Kuala Lumpa, better manage their waste to reduce pollution and emissions – and even make some money.
Green Putrajaya helps people locate their local recycling centres, understand how to separate waste, and schedule waste collections.
In a country where at least 16,000 tonnes of food waste – enough to feed 12 million people – is generated every day, reducing and recycling what we throw away is an essential weapon in combatting climate change.
“This App is our contribution to help creating cleaner, safer and more sustainable cities,” Saharudin says.
“Users can also report fly-tipping and vandalism. The App also promotes Putrajaya’s beauty spots.”
Saharudin’s project is now one of ten finalists in the European Training Foundation’s Green Skills Awards 2024.
The award is a global initiative, first introduced in 2021. It provides ideas and inspiration from all over the world about innovation happening thanks to individuals and institutions. The initiative has become a source of good practices that can inspire people everywhere to make real change happen in creating circular and carbon-neutral economies and societies.
Saharudin says that the multiple features built into the Green Putrajaya App makes it unique: most other waste reduction Apps focus only on single activities.
“Users can also redeem merchandise when they manage their waste through the App, which is suitable for most smartphones and tablets,” Saharudin adds.
The App address solutions to UN Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 12 – creating sustainable Cities and Communities, and Reducing Waste and Promoting Sustainable Lifestuyle.
“Green Putrajaya is designed to educate the communities towards proper waste management and to provide clean and safe environment from waste to the Putrajaya communities.”
The multiple uses of the App promote best practice in waste disposal, recycling and even selling recycled materials, via its e-Commerce feature.
The features “ensure waste management and recycling at home becomes more systematic and easier,” Saharudin adds.
Games and educational videos embedded in the App make it enjoyable to use by a wide range of people.
By linking the App to authorities, illicit waste dumping can be reported and beauty spots in the city explored.
To increase the project’s impact, Green Putrajaya has cooperative with local schools and communities in the city, running programmes to help students identify recyclables via the App’s game. The team behind the App has also hooked up with organisations such as Kuala Lumpur’s Impact Hub to crowd fund to pay for publicising Green Putrajaya, and is pitching for grants to support wider publicity.
Putrajaya is aiming to become one of the ‘Green Cities’ of Malaysia in 2025, and Saharudin hopes that his App can contribute towards this goal.
The results from usage of the Green Putrajaya so far have been very positive: 90% of people interviewed in a survey agreed that the App helps people with waste management in their daily lives, and promotes understanding of recycling.
There are now plans to increase the commercial value of the App by launching a paid-for subscription to access the full features of the e-Commerce elements and games.
“Green Putrajaya makes waste management easier as people are looking for digitalization in daily lives,” Saharudin adds.
“Green Putrajaya not only transform the way of managing waste but keeps the environment clean and green. With Green Putrajaya, no more waste management issues. Together, let's make our city sustainable, clean and green.”