Corporations are ready to be part of the solution

The road to a truly circular economy where every entity in a supply chain both contributes and benefits is paved with accomplishments and proof points. So when projects we’ve been supporting hit a major milestone, there’s reason to celebrate.

BanQu has been working on projects with megabrands like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch InBev to leverage non-crypto Blockchain to provide equality to supply chains, particularly elevating the status and contributions of previously unaccounted-for individuals who collect, sort and resell, and in some cases farm, grow and deliver. As part of this initiative, BanQu is also one of just 17 start-ups participating in the World Economic Forum’s The Circulars Accelerator Cohort 2021.

The Coca-Cola project, which uses blockchain technology to track and trace recycled material across the value chain to ensure that waste pickers are accounted for, just reached a huge milestone of more than 1,000,000 kilos recycled by more than 600 waste pickers.

BanQu CEO Ashish Gadnis celebrated the milestone in a LinkedIn post, saying that “waste reclaimers are empowered” and tagging it “real-world #circulareconomy.”

Blockchain is just the first step

A platform that supports those that are often overlooked is a great start, but corporations are reluctant to “close the circle” by synthesizing and acting on the insights it uncovers.

“People in our supply chains are unbankable because they can’t prove they exist,” BanQu founder Ashish Gadnis told The Innovator in June. “By putting a human lens on the circular economy, we can solve both inequality and climate change,” he said.

Corporations need to be part of the solution

Though the platform was created to elevate overlooked labor such as waste pickers, small farmers and refugees, the transparent nature of Blockchain shines a spotlight upwards to the larger corporations at the top of the supply chain.

And while companies like BanQu continue to devote their energies to ensuring equality, if those bigger fish don’t bite, the system is useless. But transparency will either make or break those corporations and with Blockchain, there are no more excuses.

“Some CEOs may be afraid to find out,” Gadnis told The Innovator, “but we need companies to step up and make their supply chains more transparent, more equitable and more humane.”

Conclusion

It’s time for corporations to step up. BanQu has been working with Coca-Cola and other corporations, and it’s succeeding — the process just needs corporations to close the loop. There’s everything to gain.