Frequently Asked Questions

Our database is built by a team of researchers who continuously comb through publicly available online sources followed by personal interactions with innovators. We also receive nominations from our member community.

We list innovative technologies and business models that have the potential to reduce plastic waste and pollution in the environment. Our selection criteria include whether a solution can be scaled or replicated across geographies or industries. Any solution we list must have a commercially viable proposition, so that they can be scaled and sustained without relying on ongoing donations.

Members of Ubuntoo can nominate solutions under the personal profile tab by selecting Recommend a solution. Non-members may contact us with details about the solution, including website, contact name, email and phone number. If a solution is accepted by our experts, the solution owner/innovator will receive one free membership to Ubuntoo for the duration of the listing.

After a solution is nominated and accepted by our experts, it goes through our due diligence process, which includes contacting the solution creators and developing the solution profile on Ubuntoo. This process may take a week or longer.

Solutions are listed on Ubuntoo for free. All solutions must meet our stringent review criteria and are listed on Ubunto based on merit alone. Furthermore, a solutions search on Ubuntoo returns results based solely on keyword relevance. We believe a free listing helps us maintain the flexibility to discontinue a listing if we find evidence of greenwashing, falsification of benefits, or anything else that we find objectionable.

The plastic waste problem is complex, and we know we don’t have all the answers – no one does. Instead, we do our best to surface viable solutions to enable scalable change. In doing so, we carefully review publicly available information about each solution that is listed on Ubuntoo. This includes websites, social media, news sources, scientific and academic publications, and where available, opinions of experts. This process can take weeks and despite our best efforts, errors of omission or commission are possible. That is where the wisdom of the crowd comes in. Our members come from diverse backgrounds and are highly knowledgeable. We also encourage our members to do their own in-depth due diligence before conducting business with any solution provider listed on our platform. Should you have any experience, positive or otherwise, with any of our solution providers, please give us feedback. You can also add your comment on that solution’s page, so that others can benefit from your experience.

Our members can click on a button in solution profile pages that allows them to privately message our solution providers without revealing their email id. This button will appear only for innovators who have consented to direct messaging. Others can be reached via the Ubuntoo team or through the innovators’ websites and social media links.

We rely primarily on member subscriptions to continue to invest in creating value for our members. We do not allow advertising by special interests or sell your data to third parties.

We offer discounted membership to non-profits, scientific and academic institutions.

We currently offer a one-time payment annual membership. We are evaluating additional membership options based on user feedback.

Once you have signed up for annual membership, you can choose to discontinue after the 12-month period is over.

Ubuntoo is a membership based collaborative platform where users can view and respond to comments and forum posts by each other. However, we limit unsolicited messages unless explicitly permitted by members. You can tag other members in forums using the @ sign.

You can view key contacts listed for each solution, organization or service provider. In order to prevent unwanted solicitation of our members, we do not currently offer a member directory.

Curators are the gatekeepers of a GreenHouse. They choose who should be members, experts, or guests, and approve the flow of solutions.​ Members are the builders of a GreenHouse. They can view the entire GreenHouse, as well as participate in the screening, reviewing and addition of solutions. Innovators / Solution owners can only view and edit their own entries, respond to messages, and respond to posts in which they are tagged. Experts are specially invited to provide an opinion on specific solutions or answer member queries. They can only see solutions that are ready to review, posts tagging them, and when they are tagged in a comment of any solution. Guests are specially invited for a limited period of time, and can only view solutions, comments and posts that they have been tagged in.

We welcome referrals by our members. Please select Nominate new members in the dropdown menu from your profile and follow the instructions.

TRL stands for Technology Readiness Level and is a widely accepted framework in the R&D and Scientific community. Originally developed by NASA, TRL has been adapted as a standard for innovation.

We list solutions that impact all stages of the Plastic Circular Economy. Value Chain Impact refers to the stages of the Circular Economy where each solution makes an impact.

Solutions that you follow will appear in your profile for quick access. You will also receive notifications when there is news or an update about them.

Members have unique access to solutions listed on Ubuntoo. If you share a link to a solution with your external network, viewers will be prompted to login in order to read the page. An option to share solutions through social media is coming soon.

Ubuntoo is a startup founded by two entrepreneurs with decades of experience in global corporations. The founders and a select group of early stage individual investors from diverse backgrounds spread all over the world provided the seed funding to launch Ubuntoo. Our vision is to remain independent of special interests and lobbies in order to provide unbiased, science-based information on scalable, sustainable solutions to our members.

Ubuntoo does not invest direct funds in any of the companies listed on the platform. Our role is to provide visibility and connections to increase the opportunity for solutions to scale and create positive impactful change. In select cases, Ubuntoo connects solution providers to investors based on their mutual needs.

Yes. We have a global network that allows us to locate solution providers based on a member’s specific needs at a fraction of the cost and time that it would take most organizations to do themselves. Please contact us for more information about our Enterprise services.

Ubuntoo is a connectivity platform. While we vet listed solutions through a set of criteria, we do not have the capability to conduct additional custom due diligence for our members. We encourage members to use the services of experts in the relevant field to conduct detailed due diligence before doing business with solution providers listed on Ubuntoo.