In the bustling city of Bamenda, where the streets tell stories of both resilience and neglect, a young mechanical engineering student from the National Higher Advanced Polytechnic Institute (NAHPI) has decided to look at garbage differently.

His name is Iyutembom Jones Yondo, and his project, GoGreen, is not just another student thesis—it is a bold response to a crisis that has claimed lives, destroyed property, and choked entire neighborhoods. For over sixteen months now, Yondo and his team have been developing an intelligent waste coordination system that promises to transform the way Cameroon handles its rubbish, moving from chaos to order, from pollution to profit.

The problem he identified is painfully familiar to many urban dwellers. Poor waste management has turned drainage systems into death traps, with plastic bottles, bags, and other non-biodegradable materials blocking water flow and causing devastating floods during the rainy season. Beyond the flooding, there is the daily misery of uncollected trash, the health hazards, and the economic waste of materials that could have been recycled. Tiendo observed that collectors often wander aimlessly through neighborhoods, unaware of which households have waste ready for pickup, what type of material it is, or when it was set out. This inefficiency means that recyclable plastics and metals end up in landfills or waterways, while recycling companies struggle to secure a steady supply of raw materials. It was this vicious cycle that inspired him to act.

Enter GoGreen, a mobile application designed to connect the dots between households, waste collectors, and recycling companies. The concept is elegantly simple yet profoundly effective. A household with a bag of plastic bottles opens the app, indicates the type and quantity of waste, and marks its location. Nearby collectors receive a real-time notification with precise details: what to pick, where to find it, and when it is ready. Armed with this information, collectors no longer waste time and fuel roaming the streets; they follow optimized routes, collect more in less time, and earn a decent income for their labor. The collected materials are then delivered to recycling companies, which process them into new goods, thereby feeding the circular economy and creating local jobs. Yondo emphasizes that this is not charity work—it is a business model that fairly compensates every actor in the chain, from the household that sorts its waste to the collector who hauls it and the company that transforms it.

The timing of GoGreen could not be more opportune. The project was initially developed as an entry for a competition launched by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, a recognition that innovation in the digital space is being actively encouraged. But for Yondo, the competition was never the end goal; it was a springboard. He envisions a Cameroon where waste is no longer a problem to be dumped but a resource to be harvested. He dreams of a generation of young people who see opportunity in every discarded bottle and every forgotten scrap of metal. His engineering training at NAHPI has given him the technical grounding, but it is his passion for his community that truly drives the project forward.