Manual compactor: #3

Unwaste.io is developing a manual plastic bottle compactor designed specifically for the realities of the global south. This will make our Repa service more efficient as we can carry a greater volume of waste in each truck collection.

What features must a compactor have to truly work in the field?

In this video series, our founder Cameron Smith and our Operations Supervisor in Maputo, Arcel Boaventura Zandamela, tell us about the challenges, the design thinking, and the practical needs behind creating a tool that actually works where it’s needed most.

Cameron explains one of the biggest pitfalls in “innovation for development”:

“I have seen this many times - supposed cool technology projects that are supposed to help people in the developing countries...they get grant funding to put something that works in their European country into a developing country. They come and set everything up in a laboratory environment, and it is all perfect and wonderful. And then the grant funding ends, and those expensive technicians go back home , and they leave the local operators to use the system. They don't have a stable power supply or access to spare parts… And eventually the machine stops working and then it just sits in a corner gathering dust” - Cameron Smith

This video series offers a real glimpse into the daily challenges faced by waste pickers and recyclers in the global south. It’s a reminder that recycling — especially where infrastructure is limited — can be difficult, costly, and even dangerous. Solutions must be locally adapted and usable by the people on the ground.

In this third video we explore the key features a manual plastic compactor must have to be effective in the field — and we reveal the very first prototype, from cardboard mockup to early functional design.

👉 Stay tuned as we continue showing why innovation grounded in local realities truly matters.