Polak Fund winners are taking out the trash

We’re very excited to announce the first ever Polak Fund Ignite awardee! This award ($340k) was given to a Cambodian team working toward improving garbage collection and disposal solutions in rural Cambodia.

It is thanks to your generous donations that Polak Fund awards like this are available to innovators around the world.

Approximately 75% of Cambodians live in rural areas with little to no access to garbage collection services. As a result, they resort to burning, burying, or open dumping of their trash.

A man stands on a bridge above a river. On the river, a floating barricade made of plastic bottles holds back garbage that has been dumped into the river.

The Ignite award funds are being used to educate communities on the benefits of having formal garbage collection and disposal, and working alongside local entrepreneurs to provide these services.

This project is working to provide garbage collection and disposal services to 6,000 households in rural Cambodia, making their environment a cleaner and healthier place to live.