Konecta’s waste collection initiatives in Colombia: Partnerships with Ecobot and Botellas de Amor

At Konecta, we know that waste management is not only an environmental responsibility but also an opportunity to enhance our commitment to sustainability. To advance our environmental recycling practices and waste utilization while minimizing our corporate impact, we have established strategic partnerships in Colombia with two initiatives that have allowed us to avoid emitting over 116 tons of CO2, contributing to the reduction of our carbon footprint: Ecobot and Botellas de Amor.

Ecobot: innovation and efficiency in waste management

Our partnership with Ecobot represents a significant advancement in how we approach the collection and sorting of plastic waste. The organization provides us with an intelligent container for one of our locations in Antioquia, as well as access to national containers equipped with sensors that identify and classify different types of packaging and offer discount coupons for recycled packages.

The data collected by the sensors facilitates waste management by providing real-time tracking of generated volumes and users involved in the initiative, allowing us to keep a record of each participant's contribution to the campaign and the positive impact we generate on our environment.

Since the beginning of this partnership, we have achieved a spot in the TOP 10 global companies that recycle the most with Ecobot, ranking first for four consecutive months, from May to September, with over 26,000 recycled packages.

These figures demonstrate our commitment to joining Ecobot’s recycling initiative, highlighting the contribution of Yuliana, a service representative and Konecta volunteer, for her valuable input of 4,230 recycled packages during June and July.

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Botellas de Amor: transforming flexible plastic waste into sustainable projects

Since 2020, we have maintained a partnership with Botellas de Amor Foundation, dedicated to manufacturing plastic wood from bottles filled with flexible plastics (candy wrappers, potato chip bags, etc.). This wood has been used to transform vulnerable spaces through the construction of houses, playgrounds, libraries, among others, that impact various communities, giving purpose to its name.

Through this partnership, we have promoted sustainable practices by inviting our employees to fill bottles of love and deposit them at various collection points within our locations in Colombia. These bottles are sent to the foundation transformation plant, where they are processed and transformed into plastic wood planks. This helps us reduce the amount of plastic waste ending up in landfills, promoting a culture of recycling and circular economy within our community.

So far, we have collected over 45 tons of bottles filled with flexible plastics, which were transformed by Botellas de Amor Foundation for a project submitted to the 2023 Fundación Konecta’s Social Projects Call: the construction of the first geodesic dome that will serve as a digital classroom and reading space, which was delivered last August to the Loma Linda Educational Institution in Itagüí, Antioquia (Colombia), positively impacting over 1,500 people, including the school community and their families.

In this way, we ensure that our partnership with Botellas de Amor not only contributes to transforming plastic waste but also supports high-impact initiatives for communities.

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Our commitment to sustainability is ongoing

These results demonstrate the potential to multiply the impact of initiatives developed for the environment and community progress through partnerships between the private sector, social entities dedicated to these tasks, and the participation of our volunteers. In this regard, Ecobot, Botellas de Amor Foundation and our employees have been key allies in achieving our sustainability goals.

At Konecta, we continue to advance with the conviction that innovation and collaboration are essential for building a greener and more responsible future.