New service Eco-Taxi offers Tbilisi residents pickup of recyclable materials from work, home

A new recycling service called Eco-Taxi offers Tbilisi residents the chance to have their recyclable waste picked up from work or home. 

The project was launched during the coronavirus lockdown by the NGO Parki Ar Minda [Geo. I don’t want a bag] to help people who couldn’t bring their waste to collection points, which were closed due to the quarantine.

We launched the Eco-Taxi service as a response to closed collection points during the [coronavirus] lockdown. With time, we realized that there is a demand for such services even when collection points reopened,” said Mariam Pesvianidze, Co-founder of Parki Ar Minda.

The service has more than 15 regular clients, among them the following cafes and restaurants in Tbilisi: Living Vino, DADI Wine Bar, Mama Terra Veggie Corner, and Lokal coworking place. 

The company has regular household clients as well. 

Moreover, Eco-Taxi can serve people outside of Tbilisi and can come to surrounding villages or towns to pick up waste from private houses.

The Eco-Taxi service accepts waste such as plastic, aluminium and tin cans, paper and cardboard, and glass products, consumer batteries and old plastic cards.

The company collaborates with Polyvim LLC, a local recycling facility, so all collected plastics are recycled locally, not abroad.

We highly appreciate the Parki Ar Minda team, as a meaningful bridge between people and entities in charge. This NGO offers convenient services to our citizens and contributes in developing the relevant supply chain, as well as to increasing awareness and recycling culture,” says Beka Ponjavidze, the commercial manager of Polyvim LLC.

Fees for the Eco-Taxi service are based on the address of pick up:

• Central Tbilisi neighborhoods (i.e. Vake, Chugureti, Saburtalo) – 15 GEL
• More distant neighborhoods including areas outside Tbilisi (i.e. Gldani, Okrokana, Tskneti, Betania) – 20 GEL

However, for regular clients (at least 1 order per month) the fee is 10 GEL.

Eco-Taxi was launched back in May by Parki Ar Minda which is a non-profit organization aimed ‘at offering comprehensive information and solutions for a more eco-friendly life in Georgia’.