It happens about 1.2 million times a minute. Someone finishes their drink, and gives the plastic bottle a shake, making sure it’s empty. They look around for somewhere to dispose of it. They can choose the trash can, which will ultimately lead to the final resting place of most plastic bottles, a landfill. Sometimes, there may be a recycling bin as well, but less than a quarter of plastic water bottles disposed of in this manner are repurposed in the United States, even with well developed recycling infrastructure. In a country like Thailand, where less than 20% of the net waste enters the recycling system, the situation is dire, with plastic piling up in the city streets.Surely, there has to be a better way? There is a third option, albeit an often invisible one: keep your plastic waste, and repurpose it yourself.
Making this option visible and feasible for people around the world is the mission of Precious Plastics, a non-profit business with chapters around the world, including in Bangkok, Thailand. They have developed a series of affordable machines that allow people to perform every step of plastic recycling, from reclaiming the plastic raw material, to creating a unique final project with molds, sheets, or 3D printing.
A bench made from recycled bottle caps
Recycling Better, Together
Precious Plastics is not only concerned with the reuse of plastic, but also focuses on creating a culture around it, and communities of plastic upcyclers. Despite their relatively low cost – the machines range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars – not everyone can feasibly run a home recycling center. Instead, Precious Plastics encourages communities to come together, set up community plastic collection points and recycling centers, and develop a local Precious Plastic Network. These networks join together to form the Precious Plastic Universe, groups of people from around the globe working together and sharing knowledge to tackle the plastic waste problem.
Precious plastic now works in 107 countries around the globe, many of which have little to no recycling infrastructure. The Thailand chapter was founded in part as a response to air pollution and environmental contamination from plastic. This is especially prevalent in the capital city of Bangkok where waste is largely not separated, and many landfills are completely unmanaged, and hazardous to the people and environment around them.
Spreading the Word, Saving up Bottle Caps
One of the challenges Precious Plastic Bangkok faces is the lack of a recycling culture. Frong and Pin, two of the organization’s event coordinators, explain that plastics are very inexpensive in Thailand.
“People do not separate waste,” says Frong. “The government does not give a price for plastic things or recycling waste, so people are not motivated to separate waste. The destination of the waste is not appropriate, because when waste goes to the landfill, it’s hard to control contamination in the environment. Thailand’s system is broken.”
Precious Plastics provide an alternative to the system. Through outreach to schools, companies, and communities, they educate people on the importance of proper waste management, and to change the culture around plastic – to make it precious.
For Pin, this work continues into her home life. “I try to show family members why it’s important to separate waste into food waste and plastic waste,” she says. “My mom tries to separate waste for me, and keeps bottle caps for me to take to the office.”
Those bottle caps may go on to make something beautiful. Precious Plastics works not only to get plastics out of the landfills, streets, and oceans, but also to add value to the items we ordinarily throw away without a second thought. The organization is promoting a revolutionary ideal, but one that is fundamental to a sustainable future: that waste has value in itself. Precious Plastics is enabling people everywhere to harness that value, and clean up the world in the process. With their machines come new economic opportunities, the chance to start a small business selling art, jewelry, toys, furniture, even clothing, or something not yet imagined. Many of these products are for sale by their creators on the Bazar page on the Precious Plastics website.
Is my Plastic Precious too?
Anyone can join the Precious Plastics mission. On their map, the organization shows not only the up-and-running Precious Plastic locations, but also the people who would like to get started. Take a look to find Precious Plastic Networks near you, or other people ready to join together to start one in your community: https://community.preciousplastic.com/map
