The movement
Building sustainable solutions through technology, community, and collective action.
We turn real problems into social, environmental, and economic opportunity — with digital products, data, and execution alongside those who live the issue.
Collaboration
Applied tech
Recycling
Local farming
Data & intelligence
Community
Playlist
Conheça a Aliança Sustentável em vídeo
Uma seleção para divulgar o movimento, suas comunidades e as ações que conectam solidariedade, networking e feira digital.
Aliança Sustentável | Comunidade, Solidariedade e Boas Ações
Aliança Sustentável | Comunidade e Networking
Aliança Sustentável | Comunidade e Feira Digital
Two ways to explore the proposal
See the impact scenario or the behind-the-scenes of how WAAC structures research, product, and validation.
Credibility
The problem is already here
We are not talking about distant scenarios. These bottlenecks already affect millions of people and ecosystems every day.
That is why WAAC grounds hypotheses in public data, prototypes flows, and measures what matters — turning narrative into product.
Recycling · public data
Waste already operates at massive scale.
Plastic in Brazil
- ·Brazil generates on the order of 11 million tonnes of plastic waste per year (consolidated sector estimates).
- ·Only about 1.2% of plastic generated is effectively recycled — most still goes to landfill, the environment, or informal routes.
Associated impacts
- — Environmental pollution and microplastics
- — Pressure on rivers, oceans, and biodiversity
- — Landfill strain and public costs
- — Economic waste of recoverable material
Selective collection and habits
- ·Estimates suggest only about 41% of the population has adequate access to selective collection.
- ·Over 70% of people do not sort waste correctly — contaminating recyclables and raising processing costs.
Problems that follow
- — Lost recoverable material
- — Higher public management costs
- — Incorrect or informal disposal
- — Less income for cooperatives and formal recyclers
But when structure exists, impact is enormous.
- → Brazil recycles roughly 98.7% of aluminum cans — among the best rates globally for that stream.
- → Recycling aluminum can use up to ~95% less energy than producing from bauxite.
That shows education, organization, logistics, and collective incentives can transform a chain — it is often prioritization and system design, not technical impossibility.
What makes the difference
- Continuous education and plain language
- Reverse logistics organization
- Infrastructure and aligned incentives
- Participation by cooperatives and companies
Consolidated sources: sector reports (ABRELPE, Cempre, Plastic Outlook) and PNRS estimates. Figures vary by year and methodology — we use orders of magnitude to inform product decisions.
Production · family farming
Small producers face outsized challenges.
Post-harvest losses
- Studies indicate 30–40% of agricultural output can be lost between harvest, storage, and transport.
Main drivers
- — Limited access to affordable technology
- — Constrained logistics
- — Inadequate storage
- — Scarce data for decisions
- — Harder paths to direct commercialization
Water and irrigation
Much irrigation still runs inefficiently — lacking sensing, hydraulic design, or data-driven management.
Impact
- — Water waste
- — Higher costs for growers
- — Lower productivity per litre
Small solutions can yield large impacts.
Technology pathways
- · Smart irrigation and sensors
- · Weather forecasting and alerts
- · Digital marketplaces and cooperatives
- · Production and inventory monitoring
- · Peer knowledge sharing
Data that inspires action
- Smart irrigation can reduce water use by roughly 30–50% in well-implemented scenarios.
- Data-informed farming improves productivity, predictability, operational efficiency, and sustainability when paired with extension services.
Technology does not replace community — it amplifies good practice when placed correctly in the journey.
References: FAO/Embrapa literature on post-harvest loss; irrigation efficiency studies. Ranges are illustrative and depend on crop, climate, and adoption.
Purpose
The missing piece is rarely “another app”.
The challenge is connecting people, technology, knowledge, execution, and community — in one ecosystem, at a sustainable pace.
Aliança Sustentável exists to
- Raise awareness with accessible language
- Connect producers, consumers, and recyclers
- Spark ideas and local pilots
- Build digital solutions with WAAC
- Support projects that scale collective impact
- Use data and automation with ethics and transparency
Turn waste into opportunity.Technology tied to real impact.Sustainability through collaboration.Small actions. Large transformations.
Participation
How the community shows up
Clear paths for voluntary, technical, or institutional contribution.
People
- · Share ideas and feedback
- · Join local actions and campaigns
- · Amplify network initiatives
- · Support projects with time or reach
Professionals
- · Contribute product and data expertise
- · Build integrations and automation
- · Mentor UX, education, or operations
- · Document learnings for the community
Companies
- · Support pilots and projects
- · Fund infrastructure or training
- · Implement ESG with verifiable narrative
- · Prioritize local impact across the chain
Producers
- · Join pilot programmes
- · Share real field challenges
- · Test digital flows with WAAC
- · Connect with buyers and cooperatives
Engineering & product
Technology as a lever for impact
At WAAC, code and design serve measurable purpose — not the other way around.
Technology alone does not solve problems. Connected to education, community, and disciplined execution, it accelerates change that goodwill alone cannot sustain.
Evolution lines we track with the programme
- Collaborative platforms and transparent storytelling
- Data intelligence to prioritize investment
- Waste mapping and reverse logistics
- Grower support systems and local marketplaces
- Environmental monitoring when data is trustworthy
- Continuous digital education (microlearning)
- Sustainable automation — less repetition, more judgment
- Collaborative impact network among partners
Vision
Local actions can scale globally.
- ◆Turn waste into economic and social opportunity
- ◆Reduce environmental impact through habits and infrastructure
- ◆Support accessible sustainable innovation
- ◆Connect people around shared purpose
- ◆Scale solutions without losing ground truth
Landscape · WAAC diagnostic
Two fronts — and where technology lands
Inside the product narrative: producer ↔ conscious consumption and recycling ↔ materials chain. Bars summarize UX/product hypotheses — calibrable with live metrics.
Percentages below are a diagnostic model for alignment; they should converge to platform data as operations mature.
Local produce track
From farm to consumer: friction and visibility
Small producers lose margin to intermediaries and often lack predictable digital presence. Buyers struggle to find supply, pricing clarity, or trust at first contact.
Intermediation and value capture34%
Low visibility / digital discovery33%
Fragmented journey (links, groups, spreadsheets)33%
Storefront and producer storytelling38%
Low-friction direct contact (e.g. WhatsApp)35%
Accessibility, performance, UX clarity27%
Technology goals on this track
What we build to prove the producer ↔ consumer channel.
- Short path to first contact with clear CTAs.
- Storefront blocks and local SEO for regional discovery.
- Mobile-first, forgiving forms for lighter digital literacy.
- Minimum telemetry: click origin, conversation conversion, qualitative feedback.
Smart recycling track
From disposal to circularity: habit and connection
Without proper sorting, recyclables lose value. Without stable links between generators and collectors, flows are unpredictable.
Incorrect sorting / contamination38%
Disconnected generators ↔ collectors35%
Lack of habit and ongoing education27%
In-app education and guiding microcopy36%
Proximity and availability matching34%
Traceability and impact storytelling30%
Technology goals on this track
How WAAC supports awareness and smart recycling operations.
- Flows that teach sorting at the user’s pace.
- Trustworthy listings/maps linking supply and collection.
- Reports and certifications when data exists.
- Observability: educational engagement, scheduling, estimated volume.
WAAC · method
How WAAC turns social research into an applicable digital solution
Building Aliança Sustentável combines Design Thinking, technology, active listening, and short validation cycles to turn complex problems into simple, accessible, measurable journeys.
From research to build: turning real problems into a solution proposal
Aliança Sustentável does not start from a slogan alone. It starts from real problems, listening to different audiences, and organizing hypotheses that can be tested with technology, community, and continuous improvement.
WAAC leads this process in a structured way: understand context, map journeys, prioritize pain points, design simple experiences, and validate in short cycles.
We do not start by shipping a platform. We start by understanding the problem. From research we organize hypotheses, audiences, journeys, and touchpoints that turn intention into practical action.
Technology is the means to connect people, guide decisions, organize data, and make community participation easier — not the hero of the story.
1. Immersion: understand before proposing
Before digital flows or automation, the first step is to understand problems as they show up in practice.
- Recycling, correct disposal, and links between people, cooperatives, and community.
- Small producers, local visibility, access to information, and connection with consumers.
2. Who participates in the solution
Each audience has different pain, motivation, and way to engage. The experience must stay simple, accessible, and adapted to digital familiarity.
- Citizens who want to recycle better
- Cooperatives and recyclers
- Small producers
- Local consumers
- Partner companies
- Volunteers and supporters
- Public or private institutions
3. Core journey design
Journey — Recycling
- 1.Understand what can be separated.
- 2.Learn how to prepare material.
- 3.Find a drop-off point, collector, or campaign.
- 4.Register interest or participation.
- 5.Receive ongoing guidance.
- 6.See the impact of the action.
Journey — Small producer
- 1.Producer shares their reality.
- 2.Describes production type, region, and needs.
- 3.Gets support, visibility, or connection.
- 4.Can showcase products, challenges, or demands.
- 5.Connects with consumers, partners, or initiatives.
- 6.Evolves with guidance and simple data.
4. Hypotheses guiding the build
Recycling
- If guidance stays simple, more people sort correctly.
- If local connection exists, recyclable material is more likely to be recovered.
- If impact is visible, engagement tends to rise.
Small producers
- If producers gain visibility, reliance on intermediaries can drop.
- If the journey stays simple, more producers can participate.
- If basic data is organized, decisions improve over time.
5. Technology as a bridge between intent and action
Technology acts as a layer of organization, connection, and learning — product language, not stack jargon.
- Simple participant onboarding
- Smart contribution forms
- Mapping local demand
- Organizing community ideas
- Monitoring dashboards
- Contact and guidance flows
- Tailored educational content
- Recording actions and evolving impact
6. Design Thinking applied to the proposal
- 1
Empathy
Understand the reality of people who discard, collect, produce, buy, and support — on the ground.
- 2
Define
Frame core problems as clear challenges instead of trying to solve everything at once.
- 3
Ideate
Turn pain into solution options, prioritizing simple, testable, locally impactful moves.
- 4
Prototype
Ship early versions of flows, pages, forms, sign-ups, and digital experiences.
- 5
Test
Validate with real users, gather feedback, and improve before scaling.
Impact takes method — not intention alone
Aliança Sustentável offers a practical way to unite awareness, participation, and technology. Research shows where problems live. The build lens shows how to tackle them with rigor, UX, and continuous evolution — not a distant solution, but a simple, collaborative environment that can grow with the community.
Integrated timeline
From diagnosis to evolution with real data — connecting research, build, and community.
- 1
Step 1
Research and listening
Immersion with community, producers, and recyclers; consolidating hypotheses and proof metrics.
- 2
Step 2
Problem definition
Prioritizing pain points and clear challenges — without trying to solve everything at once.
- 3
Step 3
Journey design
Simple flows for recycling and producers focused on accessibility and trust.
- 4
Step 4
Digital prototyping
Early versions of pages, forms, and contact paths to test with real users.
- 5
Step 5
Testing with the community
Continuous validation, qualitative feedback, and adjustments before scaling.
- 6
Step 6
Evolution with real data
Learning and continuous improvement as operations mature.
Change happens when people decide to build together.
Bring the movement to your company, community, or territory — we start from the right problem.