Plastic Bank Marks Global Watershed Moment
Vancouver-headquartered Plastic Bank, a social enterprise empowering communities around the world to use plastic waste as currency, has announced a watershed moment of stopping over 100 million kilogrammes of plastic waste from reaching surrounding environments. This amounts to preventing a staggering 5 billion 500ml plastic bottles from contributing to the growing crisis of plastic pollution.
The achievement marks a substantial step towards a cleaner, sustainable world, with an unwavering dedication to safeguard the planet’s most valuable resource.
In Egypt, Plastic Bank’s 28-odd collection centres across 11 governorates have contributed over 13% of collection to the 100 million kilogrammes milestone. In a remarkable feat, Egyptian communities gathered the equivalent of 500 million plastic bottles spanning just three years.
Out of more than 40,900 community members, over 2,100 members are from Egypt, cleaning up not only their environment but also transcending poverty by exchanging plastic waste as currency for income and life-improving benefits. Exchanges are recorded through the proprietary blockchain-secured platform, enabling traceable collection, secured income, and verified reporting. The collected material is processed into Social Plastic feedstock for reuse in products and packaging.
Founder and Chairman of Plastic Bank David Katz says, “This isn’t just a dream; it’s a remarkable achievement of our recycling communities who gathered each piece by hand, carving their own paths out of poverty with it. We stand at a cross roads, where we can either continue down the path of consumerism, or embark on a profound journey of regeneration.”
Crediting the global recycling communities, partners, and individuals, Katz adds, “The milestone achieved isn’t about plastic. It’s about what humanity can accomplish when united by a common purpose. We’re inviting the world to join us in rewriting our planet’s destiny in creating a world where every transaction empowers us to regenerate resources, rejuvenate the environment, and liberate recycling communities from the grip of poverty.”
Plastic Bank envisions a wasteless world, empowering the Social Recycling movement that has ignited the spirits of more than 550 communities across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America that stops ocean plastic and helps alleviate poverty.
