The Market

Who are the targeted clients?

GreenPool, will build its whole business around the concept of a “sharing economy”. In fact, each actor will have to contribute in a way, in order to achieve better rates of sorting and recycling for in the city of Paris. Therefore, GreenPool will operate through 3 distinctive means.

The first one will consist in conveying the general Parisian public to participate actively in sorting their daily trash. This action, represents today the most common civil action undertaken by French people. Yet, it drastically lacks efficiency, especially in big cities such as Paris. In fact, estimates show that, Paris recycles only 15-20% of its trash, far behind countries big cities among the European Union. Having the citizens of Paris on board, will enable GreenPool in concluding its second action plan. Citizens will be incentivized in taking their sorted trash to the bins connected to our network by accumulating eco-points regarding the amount of each type of trash collected. The collected eco-points will be redeemable in eco-friendly stores, recycling goods stores or public services. This will constitute the third part. Secondly, GreenPool will work on developing a sustainable agreement between the Municipality of Paris and companies that produce “smart recycling bins”. (e.g: TOMRA). These bins, will need to offer to attributes that are highly valued and necessary to achieve GreenPool’s idea. On the one hand, these bins will have to process and recognise different types of trash dropped in it. Not only will these bins have a built-in capacity to identify whether the trash is made of Aluminium, Paper, Glass or Plastic, but they will also be able to weight the trash and estimate the number of eco-points collected by the citizen. On the other hand, these bins will have the capacity to identify each citizen through an ID Card, which will be connected to a database storing and keeping track of the amount of points each participants has. Buying such bins, represents a very high operating cost (management, maintenance, etc), thus, at GreenPool we think that the best option would be to offer the Municipality of Paris the opportunity to acquire these bins through a leasing agreement. Moreover, not acquiring the bins represents, a well-thought decision, since today, the trash management business is managed by the city of Paris for half of its districts, while the other half is “sold” to private companies. These companies (such as Paperec, Syctom) have been in business for a very long time today, and dispose of costly infrastructures. Their objective is to sort and recycle properly the collected trash in order to sell it to different companies that will make use of it efficiently. GreenPool, doesn’t aim at fighting for this position, yet, we believe that our network will outperform and and increase significantly the rate of sorted trash collected. Our business model, relies therefore on performance and retributed commissions with regards to this performance.

Thirdly, citizens that collect trash and eco-points, will have the opportunity to redeem those points in our well-developed network of green and eco-friendly companies. These firms, are incentivized in working with us, since we aim at reaching out to the biggest number of people on the long term. (City of Paris - Population of 2.25 Million people). Reaching this big pool of people, will be valued by the companies within our network since they will get more exposure and potentially increase their sales.

Why and How does the company offer a new solution to an existing problem?

Sorting and recycling represents today in France an important habit of citizen’s daily life. However, France remains below As different studies show, 87% of French people sort that trash. Yet, only a third of these people does it on a daily basis. In fact, over the recent years the rate of recycled trash has stagnated, and France remains far below the EU median for recycling and far behind neighbouring countries such as Germany. Moreover, sorting trash is done more efficiently in small towns and cities, than in big agglomerations or cities (Twice as much!). As a matter of fact, Paris is estimated to recycle roughly 15-20% of its trash far behind the 70% objective announced by the European Union for 2030.

The Court of Auditors, a French administrative court charged with conducting financial and legislative audits of most public institutions, recently declared in one of its reports that it was very hard to sort and recycle in Paris. Among the reasons exposed to explain the lack of efficiency lies: one third of buildings in Paris are missing recycling bins, there are only 887 recycling containers across Paris for a population of 2.25 Million people and are often misplaced. Not to forget that in many buildings and due to a lack of space, recycling bins are placed underground in dark, badly maintained storages that discourage inhabitants from using them.

At GreenPool we believe that our solution will put an end to this era. Our belief is that recycling bins should be distributed among all neighborhoods and streets of Paris equally. Bins will have to be smaller in size (to avoid obstruction of streets and its people), also these bins will be shaped and designed in a way to embellish and improve the streets. These two measures will be determinant in promoting our company as Parisians often complain about the size and noise caused by current bins in Paris. Furthermore, based on a survey conducted by our team, it appears clearly that people would be strongly encouraged at doing an extra effort in order to participate to the recycling effort, if they would have the possibility to earn some clear advantage out of their action.

These above-mentioned points make us strongly believe that our product will be easily and actively adopted by the parisian population as ecological awareness and education is already established and only needs to be refreshed and offered a new and strong dynamic.

Demonstrate the existence of a market

Although not very mediatised, the waste market constitutes a very important and wealthy market in France. It represents today around 14 Billion Euros yearly. Also, as stated earlier, the French recycling market has faced an important stagnation over the past ten years. But, with recent developments such as the COP21 Conference, or the recent win for the Olympics 2024 draw, French political leader have vocally expressed their will to work on such issues and enhance the eco-consciousness of their citizens and political organs. As a matter of fact, the city of Paris, plans on achieving a zero waste policy by 2025-2030. In addition, the City of Paris/department Ile-de-France allocates 30% of its budget yearly to treat and manage waste all over the city. This accounts for 1.5 Billion Euros and represents 12000 to 15000 jobs in the region, confirming the high importance of this issue for the city council.

Moreover, the existence of a market is reasserted when one knows that, recycling companies such as Syctom, build their economic models on sorting and managing it. In fact, these companies, compile and gather trash across Paris with the objective of sorting them and getting the best possible outcome out of each material. Recycling companies, categorize trash in different aspects and groups. Each group holds a certain value, and are reutilized one way or another. For example, recyclables will be sold to companies that have developed schemes and techniques to reproduce necessary goods. Today, this market values each tone of material differently: a tone of plastic will be worth 20 euros, where as a tone of metal can reach the price of 150 euros. This process doesn’t end right there, since, unusable materials are either dumped or burned to create energy. Hence, classifying people’s trash embodies a very juicy business that only appeals for more.

In light of the numerous elements described, we can easily think that the waste management market exists and constitutes a very important market that urgently needs to be improved and refurbished in order to ameliorate its global performance and attain the ambitious targets it announced. Also, improving performance rates for companies such as Syctom, will certainly be demanded and valued once our results are satisfying and achieved.

Survey and research made

Throughout our research, we decided to conduct a survey, in order to get to know better our targeted market and to complete the knowledge acquired on the waste management cycle. This survey has been the opportunity for us, thereby, to measure and analyse how much people were concerned about environmental issues, and what effort they would be ready to make in order to contribute to the wellbeing of their society. We have than concluded that, out of 160 respondents 80% declared being very concerned about issues related to the environment, a majority of which were relatively young individuals. (18-35 y. old). Also, a large majority of respondents considered that sorting and recycling are matters of civic duty, but they have indeed confirmed that the city of Paris provided weak facilities for that matter, and have demanded to get more visible bins across the city. Equally interesting, many people among the respondents suggested that bins should be colorful and smaller in size so that they could be easily identifiable and used efficiently. Yet, if a large majority confirmed they would be encouraged to recycle much more considering a reward or collectable points many said that this wouldn’t work in any case if bins were misplaced or not close to the area where they live or work/study. To sum it up, we can extract 3 major informations from the conducted survey. First, the majority of the people (4 out of 5) have a strong ecological awareness, indeed they care about the protection of the environment, as they believe that recycling is good for their health and would improve their daily life. This shows that offering a service that aims to protect the environment can be very successful. Secondly, it appears that sorting trash requires an extra-effort and extra-time. Therefore, most of the respondents think that an award would encourage them to recycle (84,8%). This is a fundamental information for us provided that our service will be based on the eco-point incentive. Also, when asked what expected from the eco-points, people focused on daily life products and tools of first necessities. We also suggest, to build a long-lasting partnership with the city of Paris that could potentially offer tax exemptions or fine reductions in exchange of eco-points. Finally, we can see that most of the respondents (57,6%) would not go further than 2 to 3 minutes away from where they are to recycle their waste. Again, our incentive-base product will be the right solution to this problem since we plan on filling in the city with bins that could be placed strategically and locatable thanks to our app. Our product, definitely appears to be a very innovative product that provides people with a fresh and dynamic service, which involves as much people than recycling companies or local governments in the common effort to reach a sane and clean city. It also appears, that as trash is collected people do not realize what they have contributed to, this is why we will advertise and mediatise a maximum, the effort made by each and everyone. In fact, individuals tend to neglect that appear to be far away or disconnected and this feeling represents one of the main challenges in our industry.

Market segmentation

As we proceed based on the idea of “sharing economy” individuals and citizens will represent the core asset of our business. It is therefore, very important for us to promote and comprehend the people we are targeting very well. Based on studies conducted, it appears that French people recycle more when growing up. In fact, recent research shows that, 50% of retired people used to sort and recycle trash on a daily basis when, students were only 37%. We believe that the average french person doesn’t do enough effort for that matter. We also think that through our plan, we will be able to target specific groups and make increase the participation rate significantly.

18-24 y. old:

Students and young adults, represent those who appear to be the most concerned about environmental issues. In fact, this topic is very linked to their generation and general education tackles more and more the idea of sustainable development, the urge for respecting the planet and also general consumption. Yet, this segment is surprisingly the group that recycles the least. Students, generally live in big cities, and specifically in small apartments, as they have limited budgets. They have truly endorsed a “green-mindset” but often fail at recycling due to a lack of space or time. To address this segment, we suggest having bins very close to universities and schools and creating a true incentive through our partners that would offer them items that could enhance their daily life. As this category has a very limited budget for spending, offering them opportunity to buy more eco-friendly products would convey a very positive message and embed in this young population the idea that going green is a real matter. Also, this group of people represents the future of the country and its elite. This is why, we believe that targeting this group substantially would place our issue among their priority concerns which would follow through their entire life. However, among this very young population lies also those who do not recycle at all, this group represents 18% of the people that never recycle in France. At GreenPool, we believe in the power of youth this is why, we want to promote our service through an active campaign with targeted slogans and ads that will get those individuals on board.

24-35:

Young adults and newcomers on the job market, are the 2nd weakest group of people to recycle. More importantly, it appears that as they get married and become parents, young french couples abandon the idea of recycling. In fact, research shows that the rate of daily recyclers passes from 43% for young active celibates to 32% as soon as they have kids. Of course, this must be explained by the time consumed at raising a family, but, this critical decrease concerns us. However, health represents today a major issue for the population. People look at means to improve it and young parents aspire at providing to their children the best possible life.. It is also very important for them to transmit at an early stage values they cherish. This is why we believe that this segment could be our best market. As they grow, this pool of people will see its income and socio-economic life standards improve, so it is of our duty to provide them with very targeted ads that will encourage them to educate their children to the best possible manners, but also value the importance of health by bringing to them the opportunity to increase their market power in green goods and services.

Social and Public housing inhabitants:

Researches show that most of the people who never recycle live in big cities or greater conglomerations. The department of Ile de France as well as the city of Paris are considered to be, among the worst regions in France for recycling. This alarming information raised our attention, as it appears that a quarter of the people who do not recycle live in public housing. Nowadays, public housing portrays an abandoned and disregarded part of France that does not attract a lot politicians and/or political aid. These neighborhoods are often fiercely targeted or discredited by the french population and its politics. They hold a very risible image of uneducated and isolated regions. Those people are also among the poorest people in France, as they suffer a lot from social discrimination and exclusion. By addressing this segment, we aim at integrating those people and including them in the process of the green economy. At GreenPool, we assume that such areas are only partially disconnected as they are well-aware of the challenges faced by modern society. Yet, this pool of people tends to be sidelined by public policies and officials, as they seriously lack means to show that they can behave and participate in the common effort as the rest of society. This stigmatization is to be fought against. Thanks to our solution, we think that the Paris Municipality will realize a wonderful impact and achieve to come closer by proposing our service to these people. By targeting those regions, we assume that the rate of recycling will see a significant increase which will promote such neighborhoods and forster more attention and public help. In light of that, we intend to alter positively the faith of those regions and provide them progressively with tools to better of their standards of living.

Zone géographique ciblée - Vision du marché : compréhension de l’environnement économique de l’entreprise, principaux acteurs, positionnement dans la chaîne de valeur… The green economy constitutes for sure a growing economy. Yet, GreenPool aims at integrating the supply chain by positioning itself in between local governments and recycling companies. Consequently, blending in will certainly be challenging and it is our duty to provide each actor with a clear accessible target, that will offer us the opportunity to become a sustainable partner for these companies and an important ally in improving their performances. We have also identified, amongst the most important actors of the recycling market in the Paris area to be Syctom, Paperec as they hold the biggest market shares for that market. In light of the above mentioned, we consider that our action should be driven through 3 different stages: short-term, medium-term and long-term.

Short-term action:

This action will be planned over a one year period, as we will start with promoting our service and dispatching bins in Paris, specifically in the area of Belleville which concentrates, a large part of our targeted public. We aim at achieving promising results in that region and raise these first steps as a role-model and pilot project which will entitle us in developing our network and business accordingly. We will also look at selecting some of the biggest schools/universities in Paris and their surroundings as we believe that students tend in a close area.

Medium-term action:

Based on our first results, we will manage to negotiate and integrate more areas in our process. This solid base, will abilitate us in renegotiating previous contracts made with recycling companies as well as eco-friendly companies in order to develop our model and revenues. Earning more revenues, will be a certain way to ensure to investors and partners that our action plan is the righteous one and will provide with the necessary funds to improve and complement the available services. We will therefore, plan on reaching out to new communities and areas in Paris and segment our targets over a 2 years long period, to ensure a steady and sustainable development of our action.

Long-term:

On the very long term we will need to complete and cover the full Paris area. Developing extensively is important as it maintains a reciprocal relation of confidence with our devoted partners and guarantees stable income to us. Over the next 5 years, we plan on building a strong community of followers among citizens that will encourage us to achieve and improve our service. We believe that social pressure and public scrutiny will make us commit to our engagements and head towards ambitious and surprising results. Our aim is to impact the whole recycling system significantly, therefore, we will try to improve trash sorting rate by 20 to 30% in “developed neighborhoods” and by 50% in the most excluded ones. Building a common sense is our priority and we truly believe that it is through the people that the city will reach its ambitious targets. Paris definitely possesses the tools and means to achieve a greener and cleaner city and we believe that we can be a major and important actor in that action.

SWOT ANALYSIS

TFAS Analysis

Survey

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Summary