Sustainable Waste Management
Gamified plastic recovery

Every bottle you drop earns a reward.

We raise plastic recovery in Sri Lanka by turning recycling into a game. Our IoT bottle machines, mobile apps and off-grid systems reward people for every bottle, and our self-sustaining rewards model supports the plastic collectors who keep it moving.

IoT devices Mobile apps Off-grid systems Collector support
14,000+bottles collected in five days at Jaffna College
2017Price ur Plastic began, the project behind our company
< 6 moreturn on investment reported for our machines
2nd / 78teams at Sampath Green Inventor 2017
Our belief

Plastic waste is an attitude problem before it is a management problem.

Bins and trucks alone do not change what people do with a bottle. Rewards, friendly competition and instant feedback do. That is why we design for behaviour first, and why our work starts with research on how rewards change the way people recycle.

How Price ur Plastic works

Four steps from bottle to reward

Gamified reverse vending machines built from upcycled parts, for offices, malls, conference halls and campuses.

01

Enter your number

Type your phone number on the machine’s keypad.

02

Drop your bottles

Feed in used plastic bottles one at a time.

03

Get points by SMS

Points for every bottle reach your phone straight away.

04

Win rewards

Redeem for mobile credit, unlock achievements and compete for cash prizes.

When a machine is full, the municipal council or local plastic collectors empty it, so every bottle goes on to be recycled.

What we offer

Solutions for every place plastic piles up

Smart bottle machines

Patent-pending reverse vending machines with IoT tracking and behaviour analytics. Rent or host one at your office, mall or campus.

School plastic waste banks

Classroom-vs-classroom collection drives with prizes, run as a turnkey pilot. Sri Lanka’s first was ours.

Rewards app & SMS

Points, leaderboards and achievements that keep people coming back to recycle.

Smart tracking

Connected devices that count, locate and report plastic containers, so councils and brands see real recovery data.

Off-grid collection points

Solar-ready systems for markets, beaches and rural sites without reliable power.

Plastic-free events

Bottle collection stations for trade fairs, conferences and festivals. We launched Price ur Plastic at the Jaffna International Trade Fair.

Pilot · December 2024
14,000+
bottles collected in five days
Where
Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai
When
18 – 22 December 2024
Format
Classrooms competed; the top ten won sports kit and classroom supplies
Studied
Paper presented at ICPIES 2025, Open University of Sri Lanka
Case study

Sri Lanka’s first school-based plastic waste bank

We turned a school week into a recycling league. Students brought bottles from home, classes tracked their totals, and the results became published research on how rewards change behaviour.

  • Turnkey setup: collection points, counting, leaderboards and prizes
  • Bottles routed to recyclers, never to open dumping or burning
  • A results report your school can share with parents and partners
On the world stage

Representing Sri Lanka at GITEX AI ASIA, Singapore

We were among the start-ups chosen to represent Sri Lanka at GITEX AI ASIA under the European Union’s Global Gateway programme. We took a solution built in Jaffna to Marina Bay Sands, one of Asia’s largest gatherings of technology companies, start-ups and investors.

ProgrammeEU Global Gateway
EventGITEX AI ASIA
VenueMarina Bay Sands, Singapore
Dates9 – 10 April 2026
Pilot partnerCoca-Cola Sri Lanka
CohortICTA Spiralation 2020
Programmes & ecosystem

The programmes behind our growth

Accelerators and circular-economy programmes that help start-ups from Jaffna scale solutions to waste.

GC Accelerator

Run by Yarl IT Hub, Jaffna

A six-month accelerator for a selected cohort of early-stage and scaling start-ups, offering the support to grow from pilot to business.

Length
Six months per cohort
Intake
Twice a year
Latest
Cohort 12, applications closed 11 September 2026

CIRCULAR

EU-funded circular economy project

Cuts food loss, food waste and single-use plastics across the food sector. Its incubator held a design-thinking workshop in Jaffna on upcycling food waste into value-added products.

Runs
2024 – 2027
Partners
Expertise FranceFAOGIZ
Jaffna
Design-thinking workshop, 19 – 20 June 2026
Our journey

From a university project to a company

  1. Price ur Plastic begins

    Two University of Jaffna science graduates ask what would make people want to recycle.

  2. Idea Factory founded in Jaffna

    The social innovations lab that incubated the company.

  3. Three national awards

    Mora Ventures 3.0, Venture Frontier Lanka and Sampath Green Inventor.

  4. South Asia Connect

    Selected for the start-up programme at the Nexus Startup Hub, New Delhi.

  5. Public launch

    Price ur Plastic launched at the Jaffna International Trade Fair, 24 – 26 January.

  6. ICTA Spiralation cohort

    One of 20 start-ups selected nationally.

  7. University of Jaffna collection

    Bottle collection launched on Global Recycling Day.

  8. First school waste bank

    Over 14,000 bottles in five days at Jaffna College.

  9. GITEX AI ASIA, Singapore

    Representing Sri Lanka at Marina Bay Sands under the EU Global Gateway programme.

  10. Sustainable Waste Management (Pvt) Ltd

    Spun off from Idea Factory to scale gamified plastic recovery across Sri Lanka.

1st placeVenture Frontier Lanka Startup Boot Camp, Jaffna (2018)
2nd of 78 teamsSampath Green Inventor 2017, LKR 150,000 prize
2nd runner-upMora Ventures 3.0, University of Moratuwa (2018)
People & research

A chemist and a physicist from Jaffna

AR

Anu Rakavan

Co-founder · Chief of Innovation

Chemist and University of Jaffna graduate with an MSc in Environmental Science from the Open University of Sri Lanka. Her thesis studied gamification to reduce plastic waste.

AJ

Aeneas Jerron Velu

Co-founder

Physicist with a BSc (2018) and MPhil (2025) from the University of Jaffna, researching smart tracking and gamification for plastic waste management.

2025
Influence of Rewards and Gamified Experience in Waste Management Among School Students in Jaffna CollegeICPIES 2025, The Open University of Sri Lanka
2024
Smart Tracking of Plastic Containers for an Efficient Waste Management FutureInternational Conference on Plastics & Environmental Sustainability
2024
Gamification of Plastic Waste Management for Behavioral ChangeInternational Conference on Plastics & Environmental Sustainability
Work with us

Let’s recover more plastic together

Schools, companies, councils, event organisers and plastic collectors: tell us where plastic is piling up and we’ll suggest a pilot.

Karpaga Pillayar Road, Urumpirai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
info@ideafactory.lk
via our parent lab, Idea Factory
© 2026 Sustainable Waste Management (Pvt) Ltd · A spin-off of Idea Factory, The Social Innovations Lab · Jaffna