Before DortiBox, you never knew when the collector was coming. Sometimes they came twice in a week. Sometimes not at all for two weeks.
Those are the words of a Kroo Town resident who subscribed to DortiBox in our first month of operations. Her experience was not unusual — it was the norm across most of Freetown's residential communities.
The problem with informal collection
Informal waste collection in Freetown operates on goodwill and negotiation. Collectors set their own schedules, charge variable rates, and have no accountability when they miss a pickup. For households, this means uncertainty — waste accumulates, health risks increase, and there is nothing you can do about it.
The problem is not that informal collectors are unreliable by nature. It is that the system gives them no tools to be reliable. No scheduling infrastructure, no payment system, no feedback mechanism, no oversight.
DortiBox is built to change that infrastructure — not to replace informal collectors, but to give them the tools to operate professionally and give households the certainty they deserve.
What changed in Kroo Town
When DortiBox launched in Kroo Town, we started with a simple proposition: subscribe, pick a day, and we will be there every week without you having to chase anyone.
Within the first two months, over 80 households in Kroo Town had subscribed. Collectors assigned to the community now operate on fixed schedules with app-based route confirmation. Missed pickups trigger an automatic follow-up from our operations team.
The feedback from the community has been consistent — reliability is the thing that matters most. Not price. Not the app interface. Reliability.
What residents are saying
Fatmata Kamara, a household subscriber in Murray Town, put it simply: the app helps us schedule collections, and we have already noticed a big difference in our neighborhood. It feels good knowing we are contributing to a healthier Freetown.
For Alkap Koroma, a small restaurant owner in Brookfields, the impact was commercial: waste management was always a challenge for my business. DortiBox has changed that completely. The regular pickups and reliable service mean my business stays clean and professional.
The bigger picture
Kroo Town is one community. Freetown has dozens. Each one has the same problem and deserves the same solution.
DortiBox's expansion plan is built around demonstrating the model in one area, proving that it works, and then scaling community by community with the operational infrastructure to support it.
If you live in a community not yet covered by DortiBox, register your interest through our contact page. We track demand by area and use that data to prioritise where we expand next.
Get started
Download DortiBox on Google Play or the App Store, or dial 715380# from any Sierra Leonean mobile number to register without a smartphone.
