After spending years in Africa, Georges Bitar returned to Lebanon when the country was in the midst of a major waste crisis. After careful thought, the young man decided to launch his own business to offer an effective solution to this problem plaguing the country. The idea: to “Uberise” recycling collections. That’s how the start-up Live Love Recycle was born. The journey began with Georges’ individual actions. He collected litter and sorted it for recycling. But in time, he needed to find a way of transporting it to the waste processing sites. He went into partnership with Uber, but the initiative rapidly became a victim of its own success and within three weeks the application was saturated.

With the support of social enterprise Live Love Lebanon, the young entrepreneur was finally able to launch his own initiative, Live Love Recycle. Having secured various sources of funding, the start-up acquired a fleet of electric vehicles, consisting of electric bikes, tuk-tuks and a truck. A few months later, the mobile app was launched. This was a decisive step in the history of the start-up and from there, success came quickly. Using the application, people in Lebanon can schedule a visit from the Live Love Recycle team to collect their household waste, which then goes on to be sorted and recycled. In a few years, the start-up has become a key social stakeholder, also working on the ground to raise public awareness of the importance of waste reduction and good waste management. It has also entered into several partnerships with local authorities and environmental bodies.