Plastic Neutral Program

Plastic Collective inspires individuals, businesses, and groups to reduce their plastic footprint and help vulnerable and remote communities to set up plastic recycling micro-enterprises, through funding.

Those interested can choose from 3 plans (Plastic Neutral, Plastic Positive, and Plastic Awesome) to make a pledge to help these communities, and also learn about reusing, reducing, and recycling plastic.

With more than 396 million metric tonnes of plastic being used globally every year, the average amount of plastic every person on this earth either directly or indirectly uses is 53kg per annum.

Some of this plastic waste ends up in landfills, where it takes years to degrade, while a sizeable quantity ends up in oceans, posing a threat to marine life.Plastic Collective addresses these concerns in the following manner:

• It first assesses a business’s or individual’s plastic consumption and footprint It then charts out a plastic reduction strategy as per United Nations Sustainable Development Goals It then develops a plastic offset program to remove harmful plastics and upcycle suitable waste It educates people in remote communities about using plastic as a valuable resource It provides the machinery and training to operate sustainable and profitable plastic recycling businesses It also provides a marketplace to sell recyclable plastic to global brands.

To ensure that the plastic produced after recycling is high-quality and meets the requirements of different manufacturers, Plastic Collective has developed its own “Shruder” recycling machines that can be transported to distant lands and used effortlessly, with solar power too.These recycling projects are promoted in communities that are underprivileged and located in areas that have no means to sustain themselves.

The projects are funded by individuals, groups, or businesses who have pledged via any of the 3 plans. Some of the places where Plastic Collective has successfully initiated the recycling projects are Les Village located in Bali, Mantanani Island near Sabah, and Whitsunday region in Australia.

It provided the “Shruder” machinery to these areas to help locals collect and recycle plastic waste, and then sell it through their marketplace to manufacturers, at an above-market price. This also helps manufacturers to follow environment-friendly practices. Some of the partners of Plastic Collective are Eco Barge Clean Seas Inc, Coca-Cola South Pacific, Earthwatch Institute, Southern Cross University, and Surfrider Foundation.

In 2017, Louise Hardman, the CEO, won the Coffs Coast Innovation Grand Prize and was a finalist in the Sustainability Awards – Waste Less Reduce More. Individuals and organizations looking to neutralize their plastic footprint and manufacturers looking to use eco-friendly and sustainable plastic can help Plastic Collective’s efforts.

Those with significant plastic offsets will be recognized as the sponsoring partner of a particular community, too.