The Beginning
Following a fixed-term position in scientific research, Djilali Ouadah began independently exploring alternative ways of collecting waste, solutions that could be simple, robust and easy to deploy across different territories.
EMATATOU develops low-cost, robust public waste bins designed to intercept litter before it enters our waterways, from streets to rivers to oceans.
Ematatou is a non-profit association whose purpose is to promote, in a spirit of sharing and cooperation, a new approach to waste collection, one that is as accessible, adaptable and widely deployable as possible.
Following a fixed-term position in scientific research, Djilali Ouadah began independently exploring alternative ways of collecting waste, solutions that could be simple, robust and easy to deploy across different territories.
The work was fully revived with a broader ambition: to build the project around collective intelligence, bringing together the knowledge, skills and experiences already present within communities and territories.
Rather than designing a solution behind closed doors, Ematatou seeks to bring together the knowledge, skills and experiences already present within our communities and territories. Everyone can contribute according to their own expertise, experience and abilities.
Our organisation relies on:
The idea behind Dawra40 emerged from a simple observation: there is a gap in the current range of public waste bins available on the market.
Inexpensive and relatively simple, such as transparent waste bags. However, they can be fragile, difficult to manage and not always satisfactory for effective waste collection.
Robust and sophisticated bins that provide better durability and performance, but are often more expensive, complex to deploy, maintain and empty.
This leaves many communities facing a difficult choice: a low-cost solution that may not collect waste effectively, or a robust solution that is difficult to deploy on a large scale.
From the very beginning, Ematatou has sought to address this gap by exploring practical and ethical solutions to pollution that can be adapted to different territories, without compromising on accessibility, durability or environmental responsibility.
Our ambition can be summed up simply:
Dawra40 is designed as a robust public waste bin, while pursuing a balance between simplicity, material efficiency, cost and performance. Its compact and modular design allows it to be adapted to different environments and situations of use, rather than imposing a single standardised solution on every territory.
The objective is not to create the most sophisticated bin possible. It is to create a solution that is simple enough to be deployed widely, robust enough to be useful, and accessible enough to be shared.
From the outset, Ematatou has chosen a non-profit and collaborative approach. The project is built around the principles of openness, sharing and collective contribution. Its open-source approach creates a foundation on which new variants can emerge, allowing Dawra40 to evolve according to local needs, available materials, manufacturing capabilities and contributions from volunteers.
The objective is therefore not to create a single, closed product.
It is to create a common starting point from which different communities can develop their own solutions.
A bin designed in one territory may inspire an adaptation somewhere else. A local manufacturing technique may improve the design. A volunteer may identify a new use case. An engineer may optimise a component. A community may develop a new variant.
This is the principle of collective intelligence at the heart of Ematatou.
The project is supported by a community of volunteers and contributors. The most committed contributors form the core of this community: the Dawra Fabricators.
They contribute their time, skills, ideas and practical knowledge to help improve, adapt, manufacture and disseminate the project.
Dawra40 is made available under a free and open licence, reflecting our belief that solutions to common environmental challenges should not necessarily remain locked behind proprietary systems.
In this sense, Dawra40 is a common resource.
It belongs to the community that contributes to its development, and, if you wish to contribute, it can become yours too.
Environmental solutions should not be reserved for territories with large financial or technical resources.
Local knowledge, practical experience and individual skills can become stronger when they are shared.
We believe that open approaches can accelerate adaptation, cooperation and innovation.
Products designed for public spaces should be understandable, maintainable and capable of evolving with their environment.
Ematatou is founded on a non-profit approach, placing environmental and social value before financial return.
Public spaces belong to everyone. The solutions used to keep them clean, welcoming and resilient should therefore be designed with the same spirit.
Ematatou does not aim simply to manufacture another waste bin.
We aim to build a shared approach to waste collection, combining accessible hardware, collective knowledge, local manufacturing and open collaboration.
Dawra40 is the first expression of this vision.
The next step is to make it evolve, together.
Dawra40 is a complete public waste bin designed for self-construction. Its technical documentation is made available for free and open access, allowing individuals, DIY enthusiasts, associations and community groups to build the bin themselves using accessible tools and techniques.
The project follows a simple principle:
Dawra40 is designed according to a low-tech philosophy: it seeks to achieve useful performance without unnecessary complexity, specialised machinery or sophisticated infrastructure.
Dawra40 is an urban waste management system, and more specifically an outdoor waste container featuring a gravity-assisted bottom-emptying mechanism and an integrated cigarette ashtray.
It is intended for public and semi-public outdoor environments, particularly areas with high pedestrian or vehicle traffic, such as:
Dawra40 is available as a self-build project. Its simple, low-tech design can be assembled using basic techniques and commonly available tools such as a saw, screwdriver or drill, and wrenches.
Dawra40 features a removable bottom access door designed to facilitate emptying and cleaning.
It can be installed using either wall-mounted or post-mounted configurations, allowing it to adapt to different outdoor environments.
For quick and easy emptying, the bin body is integrated into a single stainless-steel supporting structure that remains permanently attached to the wall or post. The bin body remains fully fixed, while a single mobile component, the bottom hatch, opens to release the waste.
During emptying, a collection container is positioned directly beneath the bin so that all accumulated waste falls completely into it by gravity. Once the waste has been emptied or the interior cleaned, the bottom hatch can be returned to its closed position and secured again with a simple movement.
The aim is to make routine servicing faster, cleaner and easier to handle.
| Diameter | 500 mm |
| Height | 600 mm |
| Weight | 25 kg |
| Aperture Opening | Ø 300 mm |
| Capacity | 40 litres |
| Mounting Options | Wall or post |
| Emptying System | Gravity-assisted bottom emptying |
| Design Approach | Low-tech / modular |
| Construction | Self-build |
Dawra40 is designed to accommodate different installation configurations.
The supporting structure can be securely attached to a suitable wall or structural surface.
The same principle can be adapted to installation on a suitable post or pole.
The choice of fixing method should take into account the characteristics of the installation site, the supporting structure, local regulations and applicable safety requirements.
Dawra40 aims to provide a significantly more accessible alternative to conventional public waste collection infrastructure.
The target is to achieve a cost up to five times lower than commonly deployed collection solutions, depending on materials, manufacturing methods, quantities and local conditions.
The open design and self-construction approach can also allow communities and local organisations to adapt the product to their own resources and requirements.
The actual cost will vary according to the selected materials, configuration, manufacturing method and local market conditions.
Dawra40 is based on three principles:
Less complexity. Less material. Less unnecessary consumption.
The design, geometry, materials and mechanical system are considered with the objective of providing the required functionality while limiting unnecessary resources and energy consumption.
Built to last. Designed to evolve.
The use of robust materials and a modular approach is intended to facilitate maintenance, repair, replacement of components, adaptation, and reconditioning.
Designed with the end of life in mind.
The components and materials are selected with recyclability as an objective, subject to the separation of any non-recyclable elements.
Dawra40 does not simply seek to reproduce the conventional public waste bin. Its development explores a different combination of bottom emptying, mechanical assistance, guided attachment and safety mechanisms, within a compact public-space product.
Conventional street bins generally require the operator to access the bin from the top or use a side-opening mechanism. Dawra40 applies the principle of bottom emptying to pedestrian-scale public street furniture, combined with an attachment and lever mechanism designed to take advantage of gravity and mechanical leverage during the emptying operation.
The mechanism is intended to make emptying a controlled mechanical operation rather than a simple lifting task.
The concept goes beyond simply creating a bin with a opening bottom. Dawra40 is based on a specific mechanical interaction between the fixed bin body, its pivoting bottom hatch, and the lower collection container.
The mechanism is designed to guide the opening and closing phases using integrated pivot points and mechanical leverage. During collection, a mobile container is positioned directly underneath to receive all falling waste. The objective is to make handling intuitive while eliminating direct contact with the waste and preventing any spillage.
Bottom-emptying systems must ensure that waste is released only under strictly controlled operating conditions. EMATATOU incorporates a secure mechanical coupling mechanism where the lower collection container temporarily locks directly onto the fixed bin body before opening.
To ensure clean operation, the collection container features a larger diameter than the bin body, creating a fully enclosed funnel effect that prevents any waste or debris from spilling onto the ground. Guided by safety stops and integrated pivot points, the opening process is both safe and leak-proof:
Secured → Guided → Released → Emptied → Repositioned → Secured
Dawra40 is not only a product concept, it is also a manufacturing approach.
By providing accessible technical documentation, the project aims to enable local makers, associations, workshops and community groups to manufacture the bin closer to where it is needed.
This can potentially reduce:
Local adaptation is encouraged within the applicable open licence.
The Dawra40 project is designed around open access and collaborative development. The documentation can include:
Technical drawings for manufacturing and assembly.
Editable 3D models for understanding and adapting the design.
XLS files listing the required materials and components.
PDF documentation explaining the assembly process step by step.
No registration is required to access the project's public documentation. The objective is to make the technical knowledge necessary to understand and reproduce Dawra40 as accessible as possible.
Dawra40 is intended to support community-led and local initiatives, but its installation and use must comply with the regulations applicable in the country and location concerned.
Before installing a Dawra40 unit on private property, community land or public space, users should ensure that:
Where Dawra40 is installed as part of a community or volunteer initiative, responsibility for the installation, maintenance and operation should be clearly established.
The open-source nature of the project does not remove the legal and safety responsibilities associated with manufacturing, installing or operating a physical product.
Dawra40 is designed to be more than a waste bin. It is an invitation to build locally, improve collectively and share knowledge.
Whether you are an individual maker, a community group, an association, a workshop or a local organisation, you can explore the design, build your own version and contribute to its evolution.
Dawra40, a public waste bin designed as a common resource.
"Waste pollution is not caused by one problem. It is the result of a system. And it requires a systemic response."
At Ematatou, we believe that understanding waste pollution requires looking beyond the individual piece of litter.
A bottle, cigarette butt or food wrapper abandoned in a street may appear to be an isolated act. But once waste enters the environment, it can become part of a much larger system involving human behaviour, urban infrastructure, waste collection, weather, waterways, ecosystems and economic systems.
Our resources explore these connections and document the challenges, solutions and experiences that can help us build more resilient and accessible waste-management systems.
Pollution is often presented as the result of individual littering. But the reality is more complex.
A piece of waste abandoned in the street can become part of a chain involving:
Human behaviour → urban infrastructure → collection systems → weather → waterways → ecosystems → economic impacts
The question is therefore not only:
"Why do people litter?"
It is also:
"Why can waste so easily escape into the environment?"
Understanding this distinction is essential. If we focus only on behaviour, we risk overlooking the infrastructure, economic and organisational conditions that shape how waste is managed.
Littering, illegal dumping and lack of awareness can introduce waste directly into the environment. But behaviour does not happen in isolation.
People's choices can be influenced by the availability, accessibility, visibility and convenience of waste infrastructure.
In some communities, there may be too few public bins. Existing bins may be poorly located, difficult to use, difficult to empty, too small, poorly adapted or too expensive to deploy.
When there is no convenient place to dispose of waste, keeping waste within the collection system becomes more difficult.
A bin is only one part of a collection system. Even where bins exist, irregular collection, insufficient capacity, poor maintenance or inadequate logistics can cause waste to overflow.
"How many bins do we have?" is only part of the question.
Once waste reaches the ground, natural processes can become a transport system. Wind moves it. Rain washes it. Rivers carry it to the sea.
Nature does not generate the waste, but it can redistribute it on a massive scale.
Population density, rapidly growing cities, informal settlements and insufficient infrastructure increase pressure on waste-management systems. There is no universal solution that can be copied everywhere. Different territories have different populations, climates, waste streams, infrastructures, materials, manufacturing capabilities and economic conditions.
Local conditions matter.
The consequences of waste pollution do not remain in one place.
Accumulated waste can affect public spaces, urban cleanliness and the quality of the environment in which people live.
The condition of public spaces influences how people experience, use and identify with their neighbourhoods.
Waste entering terrestrial and aquatic environments can interact with ecosystems and wildlife.
A local waste-management problem can become a regional or transboundary environmental problem.
Reducing the amount of plastic entering the environment is a logical preventive objective.
Keeping materials within controlled systems can create both environmental and economic value.
Waste management is often represented as a simple linear process:
CONSUMPTION ↓
WASTE GENERATION ↓
DISPOSAL ↓
COLLECTION ↓
SORTING ↓
REUSE / REPAIR / RECYCLING
But waste can also leave the system:
LITTERING / ILLEGAL DUMPING / OVERFLOW ↓
WASTE ESCAPES THE COLLECTION SYSTEM ↓
ENVIRONMENT ↓
DRAINAGE / RIVERS ↓
OCEAN
"The earlier we intervene, the easier it is to prevent pollution."
Ematatou recognises an important limitation:
"Ematatou is not designed to solve the entire waste problem."
We are addressing one critical part of the system:
"Access to practical, affordable and adaptable waste collection infrastructure."
Our intervention begins at the point where waste needs to remain within the collection system rather than entering the environment.
Prevention starts with making proper disposal possible.
Dawra40 is therefore not presented as a complete answer to waste pollution. It is one component within a much larger system.
A public waste bin cannot solve:
"A systemic problem requires systemic collaboration."
This is why Ematatou seeks to connect different actors around the same environmental challenge:
🏛️ Municipalities
Infrastructure & public space
♻️ Waste Operators
Collection & logistics
🏭 Local Manufacturers
Production & adaptation
🔬 Researchers
Measurement & evidence
🌊 Environmental Orgs
Awareness & engagement
♻ Reuse & Recycling
Material recovery
Each actor sees a different part of the system. Together, these perspectives can create a more complete understanding of the problem.
"No single solution can solve a systemic problem."
Ematatou therefore aims to be more than a product. We want to contribute to an ecosystem in which waste is collected where it is generated, managed according to local realities, and kept within useful cycles whenever possible.
Our approach is simple:
Prevent where possible.
Collect when necessary.
Reuse what can be reused.
Repair what can be repaired.
Recycle what can be recycled.
And prevent what remains from reaching nature.
This requires cooperation between infrastructure, communities, businesses, researchers and public authorities.
Our video library documents the practical side of the Ematatou project. It will include:
Tutorials showing how Dawra40 can be assembled using accessible tools and techniques.
Real-world demonstrations of emptying, handling, cleaning and maintenance by collection operators.
Documentation of pilot installations and experiments in different environments.
Experiences and feedback from volunteers, residents, associations and local partners.
Behind-the-scenes content showing how ideas evolve through testing, collaboration and collective intelligence.
📺 YouTube: @ematatou
The Ematatou Resources section is intended to grow with the project. We welcome contributions from:
researchers · engineers · municipalities · waste operators · associations · makers · students · citizens
A local experience, a technical improvement, a field observation or a research result can help another territory.
"Knowledge becomes more valuable when it is shared."
Explore. Test. Document. Share.
Together, we can turn local experience into collective knowledge.
Ematatou is looking for partners who share our commitment to practical, accessible and collaborative environmental solutions.
Our approach is based on a simple principle:
Every territory has its own needs, resources, materials, skills, waste streams and constraints. Our objective is therefore to develop solutions that can be adapted, manufactured, tested and improved locally.
Dawra40 is the starting point. The wider ambition is to build a network of people and organisations capable of contributing to the project at every stage.
We are looking for diverse partners across multiple sectors and roles:
Identify local needs, select installation sites, facilitate pilots, test prototypes and coordinate waste collection.
Manufacture Dawra40 locally using available, affordable and appropriate materials and methods.
Prototype, adapt and manufacture small batches while contributing practical knowledge to the design.
Test ergonomics and assess whether the bin is genuinely easy to empty, transport, maintain and service.
Raise awareness, organise experiments, mobilise citizens and contribute to waste reduction initiatives.
Measure environmental and social impacts, study waste flows and scientifically document results.
Develop reporting platforms, mapping tools, monitoring and impact data systems.
Sponsor installations, finance local programmes or support community-based initiatives.
We are particularly looking for five types of partners to help us move from concept to field deployment.
"Show us where the problem exists, and give us the opportunity to test."
We are looking for a local authority willing to identify a real-world waste management challenge and host an initial Dawra40 pilot. The objective is to test the product under real conditions and learn from actual users, maintenance teams and residents.
"Let's explore how to manufacture the solution simply, locally and affordably."
We are looking for manufacturers, workshops and craftspeople able to transform the open design into a locally manufacturable product. Local manufacturing is central to the Ematatou approach.
"Is it really easy to empty, transport and maintain?"
A waste collection professional can provide essential practical feedback. We want to test the complete maintenance process:
access → emptying → handling → transport → cleaning → reinstallation
The objective is to ensure that Dawra40 works not only on paper, but also for the people who use and maintain it every day.
"Let's test the solution with citizens and measure its usefulness."
Associations can help us understand how people interact with public waste infrastructure and organise community-based experiments. Their field experience can help identify problems that cannot be discovered through engineering alone.
"Let's measure the impact objectively."
Universities and research organisations can help us assess the environmental, social and economic performance of the project. Possible areas of study include:
Our development model follows a continuous cycle:
The objective is not to impose exactly the same solution everywhere. Instead, we want each territory to be able to adapt the solution to its own context, while sharing its knowledge and improvements with the wider community.
This is how we see collective intelligence in practice.
Ematatou's long-term ambition is to develop a network in which manufacturing can take place as close as possible to where the products are needed.
Instead of relying exclusively on a centralised production model, we want to explore a distributed approach based on:
This could be particularly relevant in territories where importing conventional street furniture is expensive, difficult or poorly adapted to local conditions.
Each partner can contribute a different part of the solution, from identifying local needs and testing prototypes to manufacturing, deployment, monitoring and impact assessment.
We believe that environmental solutions become stronger when they are developed with the people who will actually use, maintain and adapt them.
Our vision is simple:
If you believe your organisation, workshop, university, association or community could contribute to this mission,
Developing practical and accessible environmental solutions that serve communities and protect natural ecosystems. With EMATATOU, Djilali combines field experience with a clear mission: to stop pollution where it starts.