New Earth Projects
New Earth Projects is a waste management and collection service provider that has been in business since 2016.
The business started as a free waste collection service in the Athlone Industrial area of Cape Town. Currently, New Earth Projects charges for their service and serves seven communities, reaching up to 500 residents.
However, the primary focus of New Earth Projects is their Zero Waste community project. The company seeks to involve communities in activities, such as up cycling plastics, which can be reimagined, via 3D printing, into childhood development tools for local education centers.
The mission for New Earth Projects, is for Cape Town to become a waste free city.
New Earth Projects’ Journey Journey With LevelUp
Wade Kleinhans, founder and Managing Director of New Earth Projects, says that he was impressed by the experience and capabilities of the LevelUp team. New Earth projects was the only environmental start-up in the LevelUp programme at the time. However, this enabled Wade to analyse his business from several new perspectives. “They taught me about the quickest way, within my business, to find the resources and routes to being profitable,” Wade says.
The LevelUp programme assisted Wade in creating structure for his business, affording him greater oversight of his business health. Wade maintains that the highlight of the programme was the ability to network with other entrepreneurs and to mutually share their start up experiences in the process.
The Future For New Earth Projects
Covid-19 forced New Earth Projects to close its doors for six months as the funding from private companies became inaccessible. This also meant the loss of some business employees.
Fortunately, a new trading partnership allowed the business to reopen, and New Earth Projects has expanded to become more profitable than it was prior to the pandemic. As they have taken on more business clients, as well as residential clients, Wade explains that the company is going through a rebranding process to increase their online presence and start selling products, such as wheelie bins, through a new website.
New Earth Projects would eventually like to compete with City Waste Management, with a vision of diverting all waste materials away from landfills and back into the economy.