PETALING JAYA: Grab, KLEAN and Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) announced partnership and pledged to look at solutions which will responsibly recover and recycle single use plastic with Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs).
"We seek to protect the environment as it is crucial towards building resilient small businesses and strong communities that can thrive for generations to come. We will continue to collaborate with government bodies, corporate partners, and policy makers through various programmes, to tackle the challenge of climate change.
"Together we want to create a sustainable future and provide easy ways for our consumers to make greener choices in everyday decisions", said Grab Malaysia's head of country marketing, Hassan Alsagoff, adding that this initiative is another important step taken by the company as it continues to scale up its environmental sustainability efforts and at the same time hopes that the partnership will encourage recycling as well as make it easier for consumers to contribute to a greener Malaysia.
Through the collaboration, Grab and KLEAN plan to roll-out AI driven Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs), at specific locations, where users can easily send their recyclables.
KLEAN Reverse Vending Machines, which was launched in 2019 by JANZ Technologies Sdn Bhd, collect aluminium cans and plastic bottles, sort on site, while registering users and rewarding them with virtual points.
Grab, on the other hand, will leverage its platform to increase visibility, drive consumer participation and education efforts. The company has rolled out a series of initiatives to enable consumers to make greener choices in everyday decisions, such as a cutlery toggle for consumers to opt out of receiving single-use plastics, and a carbon offset feature for consumers to purchase carbon offsets for their Grab rides.
Grab's collaboration with KLEAN and MRANTI underlines the company's commitment to transition from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line, taking into account the importance of the environment and its impact on the communities.
Echoing Grab's sentiment, KLEAN's co-founder and chief financial officer, Joey Azman, said that they applaud Grab Malaysia's commitment to recover back and promote recycling of single use plastic alongside its aim to partner locally.
"With rising popularity of food and grocery deliveries, it is essential that we find ways to enable greater recycling of plastic waste. Partnerships and initiatives from corporations like Grab can help rally communities to adopt greener practices and contribute to positive change. We hope other companies will join us in our mission to improve recycling habits of consumers through KLEAN's own digital version of container deposit scheme," said Joey.
As for the accelerator agency, MRANTI, its role in this partnership includes providing integrated facilities for end-to-end research, development, commercialisation and innovation services will assist in the enhancement of the AI on the RVMs, and will help accelerate the commercialisation of the product.
MRANTI's chief executive officer, Dzuleira Abu Bakar emphasised that the agency is set to bridge the gap between public and private sector collaboration by connecting problem statements (demand) with solutions (supply) and increasing private sector participation, either through market access, investment, advisory, consultation, or providing testing and prototyping facilities.
"This project collaboration among the great minds of Grab and KLEAN is what we aim to nurture further within the ecosystem."
Over the next few months, the partnership aims to look at developing more AI driven RVMs, onboard more reward partners to its redemption platform, data collection and deploy the machines to various locations across the country for easier access.
"We believe that this is a small step in the right direction. We are committed to making a real sustainable and scalable impact in partnership with drivers, industry innovators, and governments. It's the right thing to do for our communities, our cities and the planet we all share," said Hassan.
