If it isn't filled with plastic waste, 35+ degrees and reeks, then it's not on our itinerary 😂 . I'm currently in Indonesia with Rebecca and it's been incredible. There's always more to know, but we have learnt so much. To truly make the right kind of impact you have to understand the entire system you're working within, and this one is incredibly complex. If you don't, you can end up incentivising the wrong behaviours or wasting time, energy and money.
I have to say, there is a lot of awesome work happening. Between local governments, NGOs and for-profit waste management organisations and entrepreneurial individuals, things are improving here. Rivers are being cleaned up, households in main cities are able to have their waste collected and waste banks are paying for certain types of waste when people drop it off.
The Indonesians are very industrious people. They're ambitious for themselves and their families. They truly see waste as a resource. They will go to the trouble of removing metres of casings from electrical wire because they will be paid for it, because someone can recycle it, because it has value. They will collect plastic bottles, cardboard and glass for the same reason. The problem with plastic bags is that, up until now, there's been very little aftermarket, no-one wants to buy them because there's little value in recycling them. They get dumped on the sides of roads or rivers or sent to landfill. We're aiming to change that!
Because we've worked out how to make POLLAST!C Packaging from soft plastic waste, we're able to pay collectors for this type of waste. There's now a reason - the most compelling one (money), for them to collect plastic bags and stop them ending up where they shouldn't be. Behind me in this shot is a whole lot, tonnes actually, of plastic pollution that's been collected - it's some of the sh!ttiest plastic out there and it's super-awesome to know it's going to be recycled instead of degrading into microplastics.