WRAPP (Waste Recycling App) is an innovative start-up that uses technology to connect independent truck owners to customers who need waste removed from their worksites.
In the nine years that Clive Amsel ran a skip-waste recycling business, he witnessed the tough conditions that South African truck drivers face. He also saw independent truck owners struggling to compete with bigger players. To change that, he founded WRAPP.
“It’s a different approach to work,” Amsel says, “and it’s wonderful to see the potential this technology taps into. Apart from the positive environmental impact, we can make through recycling and responsible disposal, it’s the new work opportunities that give me hope.”
For truck owners with an Android phone, the correct licenses and a roadworthy certificate, signing up is quick and easy. WRAPP then interviews them, runs quality checks on their equipment and trains them on the software.
Once active on the service, truck owners can schedule their own work and manage their own time. They take 80 percent of all revenue, while WRAPP markets their services online, automates bookings, manages administration and carries the credit risk on payments.
For Kewin Pietersen, signing up has been life-changing, and not just from an income point of view. “I’ve learnt so much about becoming your own boss,” he says. “I see things more from a business perspective now.”