Ecopreneurs: Safe Smart Technologies Upcycling Circular Innovation
Next in my spotlight is my very first startup I founded. I present to the world: Safe Smart Technologies {SST}.
How it began:
“Hello, my name is Serenaty Lumpkin, I am the founder and CEO of SST.
I was 16 when I visited Daytona Beach for the first time. The water was clear and calm around 6am that morning, there were no other people on the beach but me; I was entranced. When I came back to the beach around noon, a mere 6 hours later, there were thousands of people! With people comes trash. I was appalled to see that the water looked brown, there were even some dead birds on the beach, and there was plastic absolutely everywhere. I looked for garbage cans and began to pick up all the trash. I walked a few miles and noticed that not one other person glanced my way or cleaned up after themselves. I was so frustrated at their ignorance. Sure, ‘plastic’ might not seem like a big deal. They probably threw that straw into the ocean thinking it would disintegrate like ash. Little did they know that plastic takes hundreds of years to naturally degrade, and little did they know that they were contributing to microplastic pollution. The rest of the day I spent picking up more garbage until there were only strands of plastic left on the shore, I felt I had accomplished a great feat. The next morning I woke up early and looked at the beach, I felt proud and triumphant that I could protect it. Later that day, the same thing happened. Most of these people were here yesterday, and they’re doing it again? I didn't understand. Wasting and littering is a repetitive habit. I wondered, ‘what could I do to change this pattern?’. I remembered 4Ocean and thought, ‘they started in Florida, they collect waste like this!’. But that was the problem, they were only collecting the output of waste and that was infinitely futile. So, the next few days I brainstormed and founded SST at the hotel I was staying in. I made a website, reached out to the city, and began networking to turn this passion into an active business. The rest is history.
SST collects single use plastic waste from the source: the consumer. We have created a revolutionary trash collecting strategy that is efficient and low-cost. We don’t need boats or a fleet of trucks. All we need is public participation, a facility, and a machine”
The date of SST’s inception is approaching, and I find myself becoming quite emotional. I will be 18 on March 8th and will continue this amazing journey to make my dream come true: eliminate plastic waste, create a local upcycling resource, educate the community, and empower humanitarian efforts.
In April of 2021 I had created an international team of two people, Chintan from India who acted as the CFO and Steven from Indonesia who served as CCO. We met on LinkedIn after I reached out to hundreds of strangers and asked if they wanted to enter the NPAP {National Plastic Action Partnership} Competition on UpLink with me. After the first round, trial period of three months, we had been rejected. 150+ hours spent on developing a perfect pitch dissipated before my eyes. I was upset and disappointed, but my entrepreneur spirit was too ambition and decided ‘Rome was not built in a day, but it falls in one. SST will fall and rise. Now it is time to be a Phoenix and start over”. I rebuilt the pitch, my mission, and my team. I refocalized my efforts. A 20-page pitch deck became 5 in a span of three hours while I laid atop my friend's bed at 3AM on the Fourth of July. I submitted my pitch again. The NAPA had another submission available, and I went for it. One month later, we made it to round two. We stopped there. But I learned that no matter the failure and no matter the obstacle, if you are ambition and persistent, you will succeed.
Our Mission:
Safe Smart Technologies wants to collect single use plastic waste from over 30,000 cities in the United States by 2025, preventing 2 metric tons of waste contaminating the environment.
We work with Waste Management and collect the rejected plastic.
Within the next two years, we will:
EDUCATE the public.
EMPOWER developing countries.
BENEFIT the global economy.
PROTECT the environment.
About Us:
Safe Smart Technologies is an upcycling business converting single use plastic waste into alternative architectural applications. We source our waste from collection facilities made up of our upcycled plastic bricks. We demonstrate the use of plastic waste to the public in hopes of educating and inspiring them to take initiative and join our movement.
Currently, SST is in the Series A stage and is seeking funding and expansion.
Our business has many goals. We strive to educate the public about global issues, such as economics, humanitarian crises, and environmental challenges.
We believe an informed society will lead to an innovative society, one that will work together to create solutions that can have the power to improve the world.
Our current project we are working on, is called ‘overcoming pollution’. We prepare interactive workshops that educate the public about plastic pollution and the potential solutions to eliminate it.
We strive to raise public awareness, reduce plastic in landfills, boost up economies, donate to charities, and invest in greener solutions.
It all starts with you.
If we work together, we can be the change we want to see in the world.
- SST Team
