WasteTrade Growth

In 2024, thousands of new members signed up to the WasteTrade Marketplace. Our platform reached far more people this year than we expected it to, with millions of individuals in 186 (out of 196) different countries around the world finding WasteTrade.com. Tens of thousands of active users clicked through our site hundreds of thousands of times, generating millions of page views.

WasteTrade’s Commercial Development

WasteTrade made huge strides forward on the commercial front in 2024, with achievements such as:

• Strategic partnerships with blue chip companies, including one of Europe’s largest online food retailers, to drive forward circularity in the corporate world.
• Establishing a collaboration line between Canada and Pakistan for huge quantities of POM material; this partnership has been growing steadily and is starting to expand to include other materials.
• Registering and listing materials from one of the world’s largest, most well-known luxury shoe brands, redirecting huge quantities of post-industrial waste away from landfill and back into use within the economy.
• Doing more deals in a greater geographic range, now including North and South America, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Far East.
• Adding new materials to the marketplace, so that users can now trade in metals, rubbers, and fibres.

WasteTrade’s Tech Innovation

In 2024, WasteTrade has greatly refined and extended the use of cutting-edge software to enhance the experience of using WasteTrade, including:

• New AI tools to protect user security and anonymity.
• New AI tools to make material specifications more readily available and easier to understand.
• A new prototype AI chatbot that has been trained to assist users in resolving issues; this makes real-time user assistance available 24/7 around the world. However, we understand that nothing can replace the personal touch, so we are also constantly growing our customer support team to provide extra help when needed.
• The rollout of a new CRM system which provides greater insight into material trends and user needs, streamlines document management through the new administrative automations platform, and optimises logistics times and rates.

WasteTrade’s Tradeshows and Conferences

WasteTrade took part in many tradeshows and conferences this year, with some of the highlights being:

PRSE 2024

WasteTrade returned to PRSE Amsterdam 2024 for the third year in a row; we had our official launch at this show in 2022, so it will always hold special memories for us. This year, we came to the show with our biggest stand and largest team yet; we met countless like-minded individuals and organisations working to achieve the same vision of a future with a fully circular global economy with net zero waste. We left PRSE 2024 with thousands of new contacts, many of whom we have since established meaningful and ongoing relationships with.

Green Energy and Waste Recycling (GEWR) Forum 2024

GEWR 2024 is the largest forum on waste management and clean energy in Central Asia, bringing together key individuals, businesses, organisations, and governing bodies from across the region. WasteTrade, represented by our Co-Founder Bevin Tumulty, attended this forum to strengthen our collaboration with our partners at KazWaste and Global ESG Partnership towards creating an electronic waste and recyclables trading system for the nation of Kazakhstan.

WasteTrade in Education

We have spent significant amounts of time in 2024 growing the Resources section of our website to provide educational materials on all things regarding waste management, recycling, circular economics, and more. These educational materials are becoming increasingly utilised by university students; it is very satisfying for us to be part of educating the next generation. The work we are doing today will make it easier for those who come after us to hit the ground running and be able to create real, meaningful, and lasting change.

We have also begun to develop a number of partnerships with universities to help facilitate the innovation that the international waste management and recycling industries need.

WasteTrade in 2025: What’s Next

Growth

As WasteTrade has experienced rapid growth in 2024, at a much greater rate than we anticipated, we are now accelerating the expansion of our team to manage the increased demand and usership of our website.

The European recycling industry in particular is struggling at the moment, and we are seeing more and more businesses across Europe turning to the WasteTrade Marketplace to save costs, streamline operations, and have their material requirements met faster.

In response to this, we are growing our Business Development Management Team in a number of countries in Eurp[e, including Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, France, and more.

Logistics Development

Our logistics platform is one area we will be focussing on greatly in 2025. Our first major development in Q1 2025 will be the addition of a real-time logistics cost estimator, which will show users an estimation of logistics rates as soon as they receive a bid.

Later in the year, we will add a fast-booking feature for users who need their materials moved quickly. This feature will provide users with the choice of an on-the-spot option to book transport immediately an option to allow WasteTrade time to find the best possible rate.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

WasteTrade would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year! We hope you are all able to take some time to rest, relax, and enjoy the festive period, and we’ll see you in 2025!