rePurpose

In 2016, the Hult Prize issued a challenge to college entrepreneurs: Double the income of 10 million people living in urban poverty worldwide by 2022. In response, Robert Dowling EE18 ENG18 W18 and Peter Wang Hjemdahl W18 founded rePurpose, a for-profit social enterprise designed to economically empower the millions who earn money by scavenging. They found that trash pickers rely on supply chains to deliver the recyclable trash they collect, with 95 percent of the market value of that trash going to middlemen who collect it, compress it, and transport it to recycling companies in bulk. rePurpose aims to triple the income of trash pickers by providing them with the resources and equipment to pool and compress their trash themselves. The startup was named a 2016 Hult Prize Regional Finalist, a 2016 Recess Pitch Competition National Finalist, a Wharton Startup Challenge Semifinalist, and the Pivot Environmental Challenge Championship winner.