This 5 Y/O Malaysian recycling app believes it has what it takes to be a unicorn, here’s why

We’ve all been taught since young that recycling is the way to a greener future, so we’re no strangers to it. But how many of us can actually say we actively recycle our waste? 

For a country of nearly 34 million people, the answer is not many. According to a report by New Straits Times, the nation’s recycling rate stood at around 31.52% in 2021. This is in spite of the governmental campaigns encouraging its practice since the 90s.

Having been a part of the scene for a decade, Lee Lian Sin decided that something had to change. We needed an impactful way that simplifies recycling for everyone, he believed.

So he banded together with his sister, Lee Hilton, and his two friends, Brandon Wong and KC Low, to launch Recircle—one of the first innovative mobile applications in Malaysia to digitalise the recycling industry.

Digitalising the recycling industry?

When we think of recycling, we picture traditional warehouses where you bring your wastes to. But as times have changed, as too did the need to adapt.

This was the thought process that Recircle’s team had. “We all felt the recycling industry was quite traditional, but we believed it could be different with a tech spin,” Hilton shared.

But what really stood out to them was the absence of an exceptional recycling app catering to the market. Hence, the quartet was motivated to create one of the firsts in Malaysia.

With Lee Lian Sin and Brandon both running their own individual recycling companies, they wanted to solve the common struggles of past clients. One being locating recycling facilities and identifying recyclable items.

More than that, though, is being turned away by recycling companies. “The small quantities they (the customers) possessed made collection unfeasible due to cost-effectiveness concerns, leading these items to end up in landfills,” Hilton explained.

Hence, Recircle started off as an answer to these concerns.

Making the lives of everyday recyclers easier

Available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Recircle allows users to choose their preferred recycling category before proceeding. This could be electronics, car batteries, used cooking oil, or the more ordinary products like glass, paper, and plastics. 

Once your service location is determined, you’re required to share your contact number and more information about the recyclable. Specifically, image attachments, quantity, and remarks. Then you can choose to either deliver it to the nearest collaborating partner, or have it picked up.

“Our dedicated green partners will carefully review your request, taking into account several factors, such as quantity, location, item types, and collection difficulty,” Hilton explained. Thereupon, the collaborating partners will quote a price, which users can choose to accept or reject. 

After the request is finalised, users get to earn cashback and points based on the transaction. This is according to the price quoted, where each RM1 is equivalent to 1 transaction point.

For every 1,000 points reached, users are eligible to redeem RM10. This can be either cashed out to your preferred bank or used to redeem Recircle Reward. There, you can find rebates for products like a Samsung TV and services like Apple TV+.

Finding their business niche with a carbon tracker

Besides that, Recircle also has a carbon footprint tracker personalised to each user. This is calculated using the United States’ EPA Standard as Malaysia lacks a specific framework for it.

Dictionary time: A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions.

It’s an interesting additional feature that might incentivise some users, but Hilton admitted that households here don’t really prioritise it. “Nevertheless, we’ve created a valuable space within our platform to educate users about this important aspect.”

Conversely, this opened up opportunities for them to collaborate with corporate entities. One example is Bamboo Hills, KL that engaged with Recircle for a long-term recycling programme.

From this, the Recircle team also found which platform segments related to different users.

Corporates and business users are more interested in the carbon footprint tracker for data purposes. Whereas individuals or households tend to focus on earning and accumulating points to redeem for cash.

How is it making money though?

At this point, you might be wondering how Recircle makes money. After all, it’s an app that has been able to run for the past five years.

To this, Hilton disclosed that they make their revenue through their partnerships with collection partners. They provide a separate portal to manage users’ recycling requests, which contains information like sales transactions and user data.

For each successful transaction (or recycling request) that the collection partners fulfil, Recircle charges a service fee. So, the more successful transactions Recircle helps with, the more money the platform makes.

At the time of writing, she shared that there have been over 19K successful transactions since the first day, which she said translates to roughly RM2 million in transactional value.

Ambitious unicorn goals for a green startup 

Looking ahead, the team has big plans to establish a nationwide presence by 2026. To achieve this, they’re aiming to partner with more local recyclers as well as obtaining an e-waste licence from the Department of Environment (DOE).

And of course, the ultimate goal is to encourage the adoption rates of recycling by offering a data-driven platform for users of all backgrounds. So they’re focusing on exploring additional funding opportunities from potential investors, such as venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors. 

“As we’ve been self-funded since day one, I believe it’s the right time to scale up. The first five years were dedicated to building a strong foundation, learning from mistakes, and gaining traction,” Hilton stated.

“Our bigger vision is to position Recircle as the foremost online recycling platform in Malaysia, striving to reach unicorn status within the industry.” And much of this comes down to their belief that Recircle’s business model and technology makes this possible.

It’s quite an ambitious goal for a green startup, as attaining unicorn status is a challenging feat. In Malaysia alone, we only have three unicorns as of 2023. But seeing how dedicated the co-founders are to making Recircle a scalable platform, it’s not impossible should they have the right team on this journey.

Featured Image Credit: Recircle