New waste services app connects truck owners to opportunity

WRAPP (Waste Recycling App) is an innovative start-up that uses simple 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 licences 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 per cent 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.”

With 60 service providers registered in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, serving over 700 clients, Wrapp plans to roll out nationally by the end of the year.

WRAPP is available for Android devices from the Google Play store and on www.wrapp.co.za.

About WRAPPWRAPP (Waste Recycling App) is an innovative tech start-up that makes waste management simple, transparent and reliable. Via an easy-to-use application, it creates work opportunities for independent truck owners by connecting them with customers who need waste removed from their worksites. Small businesses, construction companies, shopping centres, renovators, housing complexes, homeowners and more book their truck or skip, and local drivers and loading teams collect the waste for responsible disposal – all tracked and recorded online. A South African-born world first, WRAPP is a member of the Institute of Waste Management South Africa and a City of Cape Town-accredited waste services provider.