Dutch bubbles
5 innovations to deal with plastic waste in Southeast Asia
Established to accelerate innovative solutions focused on plastic recycling and upcycling in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, the challenge has just announced five innovators that will be participating in the development program over the next five months.
The challenge received a total of 101 incredible applications through the UpLink platform. Forty-eight shortlisted candidates were carefully assessed by academic researchers, corporate sustainability practitioners, innovators, and climate and circular economy specialists. The selected innovators will receive partnership building opportunities, mentorship, increased visibility, access to networks, and grants to help them get scale happening with their innovations.
The five Plastic Waste to Value innovators are:
- Bank Sampah Bersinar (Indonesia) – a social enterprise that provides community-based waste management solutions.
- ENVIROTECH WASTE RECYCLING INC. (Philippines) – collects Single-use plastic (SUPs) and turns them into useful products such as school chairs.
- Kibumi (Indonesia) – a disruptive startup company that strengthens the plastic recycling supply chain through digitalised and modernised waste collection points.
- Plastic People (Vietnam) – transforms plastic waste into useful and upcycled products such as furniture or accessories.
- TerraCycle Global Foundation (Thailand) – provides simple, innovative, and high impact solutions to prevent, remove, and recycle waste from the environment.
Solutions have been assessed based on their contributions to at least one of the three focus areas:
- Increasing the amount of plastic waste managed, processed and/or recycled
- supporting the operational improvement of plastic waste management and recycling
- improving working conditions of enterprises in plastic waste management and recycling.
The Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge is led by The Incubation Network, the Global Plastic Action Partnership, UpLink by the World Economic Forum, funded by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and supported by SecondMuse, The Circulate Initiative, Global Affairs Canada, and DEFRA.
About The Incubation Network
The Incubation Network is an impact-driven initiative that sources, supports and scales holistic innovative solutions to combat plastic pollution and improve the livelihoods of vulnerable groups in waste management and recycling systems.
Part of a highly collaborative community of startups and entrepreneurs, investors, partners and programs, The Incubation Network works together with industry players to tackle key barriers to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy. This includes sourcing and supporting, to scaling early-stage or pre-investment solutions and connecting compatible ecosystem players to reinforce the value chain in waste management and recycling.
Established in 2019, The Incubation Network is a partnership between non-profit organisation, The Circulate Initiative and impact innovation company, SecondMuse. The Incubation Network is open to interested collaborators, corporations, and mentors, looking to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy in South & Southeast Asia.
For more information, visit: www.incubationnetwork.com.
About Global Plastic Action Partnership
As part of the World Economic Forum’s dedication to accelerating impact under the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) was launched in September 2018 at the Sustainable Development Investment Summit.
GPAP partners with countries and global partners to champion a shift towards a new plastics economy both by addressing the root causes of plastic pollution, from production to consumption and reuse, and by improving waste management efforts downstream. GPAP brings together governments, regional bodies, international organisations and businesses, as well as innovators and civil society organisations on an impartial collaboration platform with the aim of creating dedicated communities and driving positive change.
For more information, visit: https://globalplasticaction.org/
About the Alliance to End Plastic Waste
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) is a global non-profit organisation with the mission to end plastic waste in the environment. Its focus is implementing projects and investing in innovative solutions to develop or enhance waste management systems. As of June 2022, its portfolio comprises over 50 projects across 30 countries worldwide.
Tackling plastic waste is a complex challenge that requires collective action. Since 2019, the Alliance has convened a global network of industry leaders across the plastics value chain, together with government, civil society, entrepreneurs, and communities to work towards advancing a circular economy for plastic waste.
The Incubation Network, in partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership, UpLink by the World Economic Forum, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, have recently launched the Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge to tackle plastic waste mismanagement in the region.
