CleanHub Verified Plastic Collection Platform

Cleanhub GmbH is a Berlin-based company started by Joel Tasche and Florin Dinga to stop plastic from reaching the ocean. It funds waste collection in coastal and river communities without formal waste services, working through local collection hubs in India, Indonesia, Tanzania and Guatemala.

Brands fund collection per product, per order or as a fixed amount, and CleanHub tracks every kilogram with its own technology. Collectors register intake by scanning a QR code and taking a photo in the CleanHub app; machine learning predicts bag composition and weight, image deduplication detects fraud, and computer vision flags worker safety issues. Recyclables are sold to local recyclers and non-recyclables are co-processed in cement kilns with Geocycle. Brands get a live dashboard, badges and marketing content.

• QR and photo intake: collectors register each collection by scanning a QR code and taking a photo.
• ML weight estimation: models predict bag composition, volume and density from a single image.
• Fraud prevention: image deduplication and discrepancy checks flag suspicious entries.
• Live dashboard: brands track the plastic collected with their funding in real time.
• Badges and marketing toolkit: product-page and packaging badges plus ready-made impact content.
• Safety compliance: computer vision in the app flags worker safety violations for review.

Vietnamese consumer brands exporting to Europe can fund verified plastic recovery and display an EmpCo-compliant badge. E-commerce sellers can link recovery to each order as a customer engagement feature. Coastal tourism and seafood businesses can sponsor collection in nearby communities with transparent data.

Brands can back plastic-neutral or plastic-positive claims with audit-ready data verified to TÜV SÜD ISO 14064-3:2020. A real-time dashboard and product badges turn the commitment into marketing content and customer trust. The EmpCo trust badge helps brands selling in Europe meet new rules on substantiated environmental claims. Funding goes to collection in areas with no waste services, also creating local jobs.

Plastic credit and collection programmes are growing as brands face plastic reduction targets, EPR schemes and stricter anti-greenwashing rules such as the EU Empowering Consumers Directive. Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Vietnam, has large coastal communities with limited waste collection, where verified recovery is in demand.

Cleanhub GmbH is registered in Berlin (HRB 214659 B), with managing directors Joel Tasche, Louis Pfitzner and Florin Dinga. It reports nearly 30 million kg of plastic collected and more than 500 partner brands. It is a certified B Corp, a 1% for the Planet member and describes itself as the first plastic credit system verified by TÜV SÜD.