Rede Asta is a social business that operates in the handmade economy, developing artisans into entrepreneurs who transform waste into beautiful and earth-friendly products.

Rede Asta addresses two important national issues. Firstly, the enormous amount of material value lost in landfills. Every day in Brazil, about 175,000 (2018 figure) tons of solid waste is collected and only an estimated 2.7% of this is recycled. This corresponds to an annual loss of about BRL 120 billion (USD 21 billion) in potential material value. Furthermore, national waste regulations mean that numerous material categories are not allowed to be discarded into landfills, creating a bottleneck for many companies.

Second is the issue of gender exclusion in the workplace, something that's still very prevalent in Brazil. This means that it is harder for women to enter the job market, and when they do, their wages are much lower than men. However, according to World Bank figures women are responsible for 75% of consumer good purchases, and spend 90% of their income on family.

Rede Asta’s business model operates at three levels - partnership building, connecting and skill sharing.

Rede Asta establishes partnerships with hundreds of companies throughout Brazil to collect their waste materials or unused equipment. The company then offers them bespoke designs using these discarded materials to suit specific marketing purposes, such as the promotion of a current internal initiative. This scalable approach is made possible through a nationwide network of artisans, with Rede Asta acting a matchmaker to facilitate new sales opportunities.

By developing an online platform, Rede Asta aims to provide low-income community workers the tools to become more successful entrepreneurs. As well as providing affordable learning opportunities in business management and waste recovery, the platform also allows artisans to connect to their peers, divide costs, improve visibility and scale production, thus greatly improving income and the amount of materials recovered from waste streams.

By 2017, Rede Asta had developed a network of more than 80 co-operative women's groups across 10 Brazilian states. Over 970 artisan have been involved, and there are 8 full-time employees.

2019 revenue: BRL 2.1 million (USD 400k).