Recycle for a cleaner world

After being carefully sorted, chopped, melted, and pressed into sheets, plastic waste has become tables, chairs, wall panels, floor tiles, and surfaces...

Nano Morante (Argentine) founded Plastic People Company with its co-founder, Nestor Catalan, a Spaniard about three years ago in Ho Chi Minh City.

They started with a very small scale and capital - 2 people and $7,000, with the idea that with their knowledge and experience, they would act to reduce the single-use plastic that is filling up landfills, making pollution of rivers, lakes, and oceans in Vietnam.

According to a report released by the World Bank in 2022, an estimated 3.1 million tons of plastic waste is dumped on land each year, and between 0.28 million and 0.73 million tons of waste ends up in the ocean. positive in Vietnam. This makes Vietnam one of the major sources of plastic waste in the world.

At the man's recycling company from Argentina, they collect all kinds of plastic waste. Nano often goes to bottle shops, carrying a bag of items he needs that dealers do not buy, such as packaging for snacks, medical masks (containing 100% polyester), styrofoam boxes, plastic bags feathers… to tell them these are exactly the kind of plastic waste you need.

"We buy it at a slightly higher price because they have to collect it just to sell it to us. The plastics other companies don't buy, we buy," Nano said of the company's difference.

Plastic waste has two groups. One is post-consumer plastic waste, which is trash from fruit containers, yogurt, plastic bags, or anything in plastic packaging. The other type is pre-consumer plastic waste, which is waste from factories.

Recycling companies are very fond of pre-consumer plastic and prefer this type of plastic because they are easy to collect in large quantities, of the same type, most of which do not stick to oil, grease, or food waste... However, the challenge with the community is polluting the streets, rivers, lakes, and oceans as post-consumer plastic waste.

This type of plastic waste is small in number, and it is very difficult to collect and classify. Plastic People recycles waste after consumption mainly, because that is the company's mission.
Plastic People regularly organizes seminars on plastic waste with schools, businesses, factories, organizations, and communities... to invite each citizen to become a part of the solution they provide.

Many families and companies have actively washed clean plastic boxes, put them in their bags, and sent technology vehicles to Plastic People because they know that here, all their garbage will be recycled.

Nano Morante, manager of Plastic People Company, sort trash with company members -

Photo: QUANG DINH

"Our goal is to scale up recycling and increase the amount of recyclables each year. We want to increase our production by eight times, specifically to recycle 2,000 tons per year from mid-2023. When recycling With this output and sold out, we help turn plastic waste into a commodity again," Nano said.

Foreigners start a business in Vietnam

"Initially we wanted to change the world. But then we realized that we all have to come together to change the world and create the world we want. I love the idea that the whole community is involved in reducing it. plastic waste", Nano shared with Tuoi Tre Online at his factory in Thu Duc (HCMC).

Some products are created from recycled plastic materials produced by the company - Photo: QUANG DINH

Holding a mirror with a mirror frame made from the company's plastic, Nano says there's no limit to their finished product creativity. However, large-sized products, such as walls and countertops, will help bring more plastic waste back to life.

"At this point, adding 10 percent recycled plastic to a product is enough to call it a recycled product. But our product has a 100 percent recycling rate. The more our products are consumed, the more plastic waste is recycled," said Nano.

From the kind of plastic that many recycling facilities "criticize", Plastic People has created products that can be exported to Europe, the US, Australia, and South Africa.

"I want Plastic People to grow stronger. We want to be in Hanoi soon. We are also in discussions with some other people in Hoi An to at least collect plastic waste there. What we want is that People in other cities in Vietnam to become part of this great project. Send us your plastic waste, we will recycle it 100%," Nano affirmed.

Recycling is a business, but Nano stepped in not just to make a profit. "When new plastic is cheap, recycling is not economical, no one will recycle. Only when the price of plastic increases, recycling is beneficial, and many people will do it. For us, whether the price of new plastic is low or high, we still recycle and recycle the hardest things," he said
Plastic People has had sustainable revenue while making Vietnam cleaner through their work.
He also confided that starting a business abroad is difficult when it is difficult to access investment capital, but he is determined to go to the end:
"If it fails, I'll get up and start over. This is what we have to do. It seems to me that everyone is waiting for someone to initiate change. But anyone can bring about change. is what Plastic People wants to prove."

Nano Morante supervises the process of creating finished plastic boards at the company -

Photo: QUANG DINH

Via: tuoitre.vn