Plastic Bank's management is working with large conglomerates to gain United Nations support and prepare Vatican churches to visit and take action to clear abandoned plastic that drifts offshore into the sea off Haiti and the Philippines.
Plastic Bank, based in Vancouver, is a for-profit social enterprise that hires low-income people to pick up plastic waste from channels such as rivers, straits, beaches and other ocean-going channels, who hand over their picked plastic to a collection center Cash, goods or services, such as cooking oil, phone prepaid cards.
Plastic banks then collaborate with other agencies to classify the waste, clean it, process the plastic into films and transport it to the manufacturer, which includes Henkel AG in Germany, where Henkel produces home cleaning and personal care products and also produces Loctite glue and Bao Ying laundry liquid etc .. Henkel recently announced it will join forces with Plastic Bank, a global leader in sustainable development industry leader.
In a press release on October 24, Henkel called this cooperation "an opportunity to turn environmental challenges into businesses," and the company is obligated to support the recovery of infrastructure in poorer regions of the world.
In a telephone interview, David Katz, founder of Plastics Bank, greatly praised Henkel as its first strategic partner as a major consumer goods company, saying that Henkel would use these 'social plastics' for the production of packaging, not only to support The goal of sustainable development can also improve the lives of thousands of people.
The families that pick up plastic rubbish usually use their earnings as their children's tuition, which gives them educational and employment opportunities. "According to Katz, while solving the fundamental problem of marine plastics, Plastic Bank also helps to alleviate the global poverty The problem came out.
He said Henkel also partnered with Shell Oil and other activities to eliminate plastic pollutants to reduce carbon emissions, during which Shell committed to fund 1 million kilos of marine plastic and process it By the end of the year, Katz expects to also partner with large corporations, including one that aims to be the world's first 'plastics neutralization' company that will determine how much plastic each employee uses and then contribute An equivalent amount of the cost of recovering these plastics from the environment.
According to the plastics bank, 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean each year, some from developing countries because there is no basic waste management system in the poorer areas.To explain to partners such as Shell Haiti's plastic waste entering the sea, Delegates took to a hill about a mile outside Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, where garbage collection poses a challenge to the community, with rain-blown plastic bottles, bags and other junk going to the river and into the ocean. Garbage collection center is an important turning point.
Katz said: 'We want the world to participate in a ban on the flow of plastic into the sea, and that's exactly what we are doing. The world needs to change the idea of' cleaning up the oceans, 'and it is impossible and impossible. What we have to do is turn off plastic inflows Ocean faucet.
Brazil, Indonesia subsequently
At the 23rd Copenhagen Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, from November 6 to November 17, Plastics Bank won the UN 'Lighthouse Beacon for Change', aiming to reward those who change their ways to tackle climate change and achieve sustainable development The target has made a substantial contribution to the community.
At present, Plastic Bank has set up dozens of recycling centers in Haiti and the Philippines, raising the income and standard of living of nearly 10,000 people. Next, Plastic Bank plans to set up operations in Brazil and Indonesia.
Katz said: 'With UN support, we can use the UN logo to bring us more support and logistical support, as well as bring more benefits to the brands that use our materials. We are considering expanding our recycling The scope of use of the material we will allow more groups and companies involved.
Despite the social capital support that big companies pay for picking up plastic trash, the plastics recycling itself is a worthwhile brand and marketing story, as much as virgin and recycled plastic. "Katz said:" We provide our customers Offer something of value, that is, they are helping to clean the planet and eliminate poverty.
He compared Plastic Bank to a convenience store, and the world's poor used the waste plastic as a currency in return for what they needed, and the recovered item was used as a plastic raw material, even though it used only 10% of the product Environmental, social and financial value.
Katz said: 'Our product is decoupled from resin market, but it will also have some impact, we have changed the business model, the price as a reward, as a reward for the poor people, as their life salaries. This is what we do. '
Vatican intends to support
Katz was invited to visit the Vatican to attend the first World Poverty Day on November 19. The Pope called for people of different faith to act for the poor through action rather than words and he outlined the 'painful and endless' reasons for poverty , Including oppression, violence, moral decay and greed.
Katz will meet with the pope to discuss how the Christian Church and 120,000 Christians can work with Plastics Bank to promote the construction and welfare of the church and community.Katz said the cooperation with the Vatican will be conducive to the collection of plastic garbage in Brazil, Recycling planning is inadequate, but 64% of the 130 million people are Christians.
Katz said: 'Our plan is to create a global ecosystem to increase the recovery rate, especially where the original system was not recovered at all. "His idea was that Christians went to church every week to bring recyclable plastic To the church, plastic banks also provide some of the equivalent exchange items.