Dmytriy Pereklita is an architect in Toronto and a runner. For years, he has been picking up trash on his runs. A few years ago, while running across a gorgeous beach on Mexico’s Maya Riviera, he was shocked by the amount of trash scattered along the shore. Dmytriy found a couple of large garbage bags and filled them to the brim, however, he was saddened to see that he hardly made a dent and that this litter was eventually going to end up in the ocean. He was hit hard with this realization and conceded to himself that this problem of pollution is paramount.
In a state of overwhelm and frustration, he was struck with an idea: “What if everyone on the planet picked up just one piece of trash a day? What if there was an App that tracks your progress and humanity’s impact on cleaning the planet?” After deliberating for a couple of years and unsuccessfully trying to write the App on his own, Dmytriy took the plunge to make this App a reality.
Now, five years later, the App has thousands of followers and the One Piece A Day global community has picked up and logged over 1 million pieces of litter that would have eventually ended up in the ocean. In Dmytriy’s words “This gives me hope and I truly believe that small actions by many can change the world.”
What is OnePieceADay all about?
One Piece a Day is an App that was created to help tackle the unprecedented levels of litter and plastic pollution on the planet, defiling our cities, and threatening our waterways, oceans and endangering their inhabitants. Our approach is simple: if everyone on the planet picks up just one piece of litter a day, together, across the planet we can make a true impact. Since we launched the app in 2017, we have been asked to speak at schools, colleges, and universities on the topics of litter and plastic pollution.
Education and raising awareness has become key aspects in our mission of taking on global litter. The latest component of OnePieceADay is our plastic-free shop. During our numerous talks and presentations, people would often ask us for alternatives to single-use plastic products. We started bringing everyday items like bamboo toothbrushes, reusable coffee cups, bottles, and shampoo bars to our talks as examples. People inevitably would want to buy these samples! It was just a matter of time before we saw an opportunity and opened our plastic-free online marketplace!
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I am an architect and a runner. It was a few years ago when I was on a family vacation in Mexico and I came across an enormous amount of plastic litter strewn all over the beach. After picking up as much litter as I could, I realized that I had not even made a dent and that this was a bigger issue than just a beach filled with litter. I knew right then and there that I had to do something. That is when I got the spark, the idea to create an app. If the litter problem was larger than me, or anyone person for that matter, I could ask the world to help. It took a while to start and I realized that as a full-time, practicing architect, I didn’t have the time to do the app myself so we hired a team, and in May 2017, the One Piece A Day litter app went live around the world!
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
Our biggest problem or challenge is how to build a user base of hundreds of thousands of users to use the app. We are, after all, asking people to pick up litter, which even without an app is a challenging proposition!
We had our first major success when we grew our global population to several thousands of people around the world, and in December 2020, we hit a landmark milestone of 1 million pieces of litter cleaned up from the planet. Our next major challenge will be to get 1 million people using the app, picking up 1 piece of litter a day. This will be a significant achievement. Think of how much litter a team of 1 million people around the world could clean up!
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
One of the top mistakes we made at the beginning was not fully researching the playing field. We had done what we thought was a decent search, and could not find any other apps that were developed with the sole purpose of tracking litter. This is kind of a novice mistake, but I’m an architect, not an app developer. I’m just someone who saw a problem and wanted to fix it.
The day we sent our app for approval to Apple, a friend of mine, by complete coincidence sent me a video of another litter app that was launched 6 months before us. I felt completely crushed like I had wasted 2 years of work and thousands of dollars developing this. What I learned from this was that in today’s world, things move extremely fast. If you have an idea, you need to act on it immediately. Chances are, someone else has the same idea and maybe working on it as you sit on the sidelines mulling it over. If you have a strong idea and are ready to commit a chunk of your life developing it, don’t wait, do it now. We also recognize the importance of having different products on the market that encourage people to clean the planet and feel that we fill a different niche than our competitors. Ultimately, we are on the same mission and are happy to be providing tools in the fight for a clean planet.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
I continue to educate myself daily. The amount of information at our fingertips is astounding and exciting. I love listening to webinars, masterclasses, podcasts. I follow coaches like Tony Robbins, Steven Kotler and teachers like Marianne Williamson. I practice aspects of Flow daily. I run 2 companies and to be productive and not burn out, I need to operate in Flow and peak states. Part of that is exercising every single day. If I miss a day, I become a big grump!
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
I would recommend The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma, and Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future.
Musk is so inspiring and built so many incredible companies and startups, you sometimes feel that he is an alien- not human!
Steven Kotler talks about flow and tapping into your greatest potential and power.
Robin Sharma talks about not being able to fully realize your potential until you organize your internal world and hone qualities of discipline, focus, and gratitude, etc.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
That’s hard to say, I didn’t realize how much work there would be until after our app went live. That was the hardest part, promoting and marketing it. Telling the world: Hey – there’s this amazing new app out there, please give it a try!
This is a constant and ongoing process, building and engaging our community of users! This is our part-time venture but it could easily take up 8 to 10 hours of my day!
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new startup, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
Oh my! Well, there are some amazing resources available to startups today. I would recommend finding a mentor in whatever field you want to play in. Really study them, learn all you can about them, what they’ve done, how they built their companies and startups. There are other incredible resources like Fiverr where you can literally find hundreds of resources at extremely affordable rates from building websites to apps and podcasts. Do your homework, research what others are doing, and hone your idea to a place of crystal focus.
What is your favorite quote?
“The greatest threat to the planet is the belief that somebody else will save it”
– Robert Swan
Perhaps I am old school, but email, phone conversations, and live presentations have been incredibly effective and useful ways of engaging with people and growing our initiative. There is nothing better than standing in front of people and discussing the real issues and being inspired by each other to find creative solutions.
A great example of this is speaking with kids at schools. We are a partner of the Toronto School Board and have spoken to thousands of students about the ills of littering and plastic pollution. We find that children are all environmentalists at heart. They really care for the planet and want to help. Teachers and students alike have embraced our work and message and have spread the word to get us on the lecture circuit.
How can readers get in touch with you?
I am always available through email at info@onepieceaday.ca or you can directly message me through our social media channels. We are on IG as @onepieceaday1, and on Facebook as Onepieceaday.
Tech Founder: Yash Jain, Founder of Hero Trainer – Getting Gamers Fit
