Earth911 Podcast: Plastic Bank’s David Katz on Grassroots Recycling Solutions

Earth911 Podcast: Plastic Bank’s David Katz on Grassroots Recycling Solutions

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David Katz, founding father of Plastic Bank, shares his imaginative and prescient for a regenerative society constructed on grassroots recycling packages that assist low-income areas construct resilient communities. The Vancover, B.C., startup compensates greater than 30,000 plastic recyclers within the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and Egypt. To date, Plastic Bank has stopped over 99 million kilos of plastic waste — the equal of greater than 2 billion plastic bottles — from entering the world’s oceans, and the tempo of its collections is accelerating. The individuals who acquire plastic are paid for the fabric they deposit at greater than 511 Plastic Bank branches. Katz’s group has partnered with greater than 200 corporations, together with Procter & Gamble, HelloFresh, L’Oreal, and Coca-Cola, to create round economies in plastic packaging.

David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank
David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank, is our visitor on Earth911’s Sustainability in Your Ear.

Their subsequent purpose is to seize 10 billion bottles, which nonetheless represents just one.7% of the 583 billion produced in 2021, in response to Euromonitor. David explains {that a} shift in mindset from extractive possession to regenerative stewardship can break the financial mildew and produce prosperity in areas the place a lot priceless materials at the moment is handled as waste. Plastic Bank makes use of a blockchain-based knowledge assortment and reporting system that helps collectors observe their earnings and which offers transparency and traceability for the plastic captured. Plastic Bank works with plastic recyclers to transform the collected bottles into SocialPlastic, a uncooked materials for making new merchandise. They promote plastic #1, #2, and #4 to business to get better their prices. You can be taught extra about Plastic Bank at plasticbank.com.