Brothers use tech to make haste with waste

Heritage meets data as third-gen waste management entrepreneurs build smart tools

- By KINTAN ANDANARI

Karung guni men, or scrap dealers, used to haul hefty bundles of waste paper and cartons to the Tay family’s Chinatown shophouse in the 1970s and 1980s.

The seven-member household ran their waste collection business from the shop-house’s ground floor, taking turns to weigh the waste on clunky counting scales and scribble payment tickets. They lived upstairs for over 30 years until the early 1990s, eventually sheltering three generations under one roof.

Today, the tedious process has been dumped in the scrapheap of history - thanks to a new generation of entrepreneurs leveraging technology to optimise waste management.

Among them is 37 year-old Emmanual Tay, the third generation in the business. He has since replaced the traditional counting scales with smart ones that use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse and alert users on waste patterns.

"I wanted to reimagine this traditional business through technology," says Mr Emmanual Tay, chief executive officer and co-founder of Circular Unite.

He co-founded the startup in 2020 with his older brother, Andre, 41, to help companies optimise waste management through data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) hardware, and audits. At the time, industry practices were still largely manual, the younger Mr Tay says.

He shares that Circular Unite’s revenue is on track to hit around $800,000 by end-2025, tripling 2024's figures.

The startup was among the three winners of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (Apec) Bio-Circular-Green Economy Award 2025 in October, which honours individuals and entities driving sustainable growth from Apec countries. Singapore is one of 21 member economies.