Inspiring business in focus: The Plastic Bank

If I asked you to identify a major problem the world is facing today, what would you say? Too many to choose from? Ok; pick two.

However tough it is to narrow down the many social and environmental challenges we face as a planet, my guess is that the two P’s — poverty and plastics — feature pretty heavily.

The reality of plastic waste has, this year in particular, become inescapable; the stats (one garbage truck a minute dumped into our oceans) and the images (that Blue Planet pilot whale) unavoidable.

Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates that there are still around 760 million people living in extreme poverty around the world, making the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of zero poverty by 2030 an ambitious one, to say the least.

Both crises are as complex as they are colossal. But, as this month’s ‘Business in Focus’ proves, the relationship between the two — more than 90% of the world’s plastic waste originates from the world’s poorest countries — might be key to solving both.

The Plastic Bank does just that; providing the poorest in the world with access to income, education, and recycling infrastructure, to stem the tide of plastic waste before it even reaches our oceans.

Founder David Katz recognises what many before him have missed: in our impulse to ‘clean up’ the plastics that litter our oceans and beaches, we forget to ‘turn off the tap’ at its source.

How The Plastic Bank works

Individuals — often those at the very bottom of the economic pyramid, disempowered by virtue of their gender, or homelessness — collect waste plastic in and around their communities, before depositing it at their local Plastic Bank recycling centre.

Payment — at above market prices — for the collected plastic is often in currency that is specifically designed to meaningfully address the most pressing social problems in a particular region. Citizens in Haiti for example — where The Plastic Bank launched — may receive vouchers that pay for a mobile phone, key for accessing social services like housing. Meanwhile in the Philippines, where over 6 million children are illiterate, collectors can receive tuition vouchers so that their children can attend school.

Partnered with IBM’s LinuxONE system, The Plastic Bank’s payment system is underpinned by blockchain technology. The idea is to eliminate the need for cash, thereby preventing corruption, increasing transparency, and empowering end-users all at the same time.

And the end product? The recycled plastic pellets — Social Plastic® — are sold on as a commodity for a small premium to companies committed to ethical (“plastic with a story”) and sustainable packaging. Most recently, Eat Natural have become The Plastic Bank’s first British FMCG customer.

Coming full circle, all profits are ploughed directly back into the local economies: Social Plastic® is being used to provide schools in the Philippines with tables and chairs.

A vision for the future?

For me, the most powerful aspect of the Plastic Bank is how comprehensive its purpose is: solving not only the problem of ocean plastic waste, but at the same time creating an asset-based economy for the poorest populations in the world.

As such, it becomes about something much bigger than ‘just’ recycling, and much bolder than ‘just’ poverty alleviation. Similarly, plastic is no longer ‘just’ waste — it has a transactional value that passes on genuine social worth to those who collect it.

Ultimately, The Plastic Bank aims to eliminate the production of virgin plastics from our planet entirely. Ambitious perhaps, but with corporate partners — already including M&S, Shell and Henkel — increasing every year, coupled with an ever-growing consumer demand for sustainability and expansions to Ethiopia, India and Indonesia already underway, the mission is working in the right direction.

And that’s probably as good a note as any to end the week on.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to hear it. And, of course, do share The Plastic Bank’s story with others — while you’re at it, why not ask them to sign up for more Firm Ethics emails too?