Most people think of Singapore as “the clean, pristine city-state in Asia”. But behind the scenes, Singapore uses more single-use plastic per person than any country in the world. It is expected that the only landfill in the country will be filled by 2035. But Plastify, a small but steadily growing plastic recycling movement, is on the move to educate and reshape how Singapore handles plastic waste…

Photos: Plastify and Brandon Teo

Precious Plastic as a Starting Point

Paul Lee and Yew Jin have witnessed first-hand the scale of their country’s recycling problem. It is seriously huge! But in 2021, they saw enough potential to make a difference that they decided to tackle it anyway. They found machine plans from Precious Plastic and got to work:

Yew Jin, who has a more technical background, worked to create the Precious Plastic machines with locally available materials. With his growing expertise, he has been able to grow their stock to twelve injection mold machines, and two sheetpresses. 

“Precious Plastic was our starting point - their open-source designs, global community, and educational resources gave us the foundation to build Plastify from a small workshop project into a full-scale local recycling initiative.” - Paul, Plastify

More than a Bin: Community Awareness

Meanwhile, Paul took on the outreach role. He realized quickly that people weren’t careless about recycling, they just didn’t know what to do with it. So he started with a simple concept, placing plastic collection bins in the community that asked only for people’s used bottle caps. The aim was to collect usable waste while also raising awareness. 

And it worked: Gradually, Plastify added more and more of these bins to the community, and began accepting more kinds of plastic products. Collection rates can go up to 200kg of waste each week, from the bins, corporate partnerships, and beach cleanups. 

Their bins are well-made, colorful, educational, and easy to use. One of their designs is particularly eye-catching, in the form of a red human-height heart that is used to collect bottle caps from a shopping mall. The bin, which can be treated as a selfie-backdrop, attracts passing shoppers, which draws even more attention to the recycling effort.

The Power of Transformation

The Plastify workshops are an especially engaging educational tool: Participants learn how to understand the differences between plastics, how to sort them, how to process the material, and how to make it into products using simple machines. In the short amount of time that it takes to walk through this process, participants experience what it means to transform waste into a resource using their injectors- a very satisfying and memorable experience!

Plastify makes this education accessible by bringing mobile workshops to schools and events all over the country. In just a few minutes, a passer-by can learn about a whole world of possibility that they had not encountered before. They also host talks, seminars, and partnership-specific presentations. 

With a 5% recycling rate, Singapore does not have a wide-spread recycling culture, but with the sheer number of events hosted by Plastify on a monthly basis, there is a real chance at having a positive impact on that number.

Overall, the team don’t see plastic as a problem in itself, but as a resource if handled correctly: 

“I want people to know there’s an outlet for waste. After all, waste is just a misplaced resource. And if I can, I would like to debunk the myth that plastic is bad. Plastic has uses. Actually, it uses the least resources as compared to paper, for example.” Paul says.

Custom Products Create a Sense of Ownership

Beyond the workshops, education, and community cleanups, Plastify also creates products with the raw materials they generate with their machines. At first they created small, affordable consumer goods, but soon realized that a more significant source of income could be tapped into by moving into the customized high-end market. They began partnering with large, recognizable companies to create branded items like coasters, medals, displays, etc…

“It’s huge… people really cherish customized things. It’s been a game-changer for us. I wasn’t sure at first, but now it’s what so many clients want, their own logos, their own molds, that sense of ownership.” - Paul, via EcoCupid

To date, Plastify has collaborated and produced exclusive merchandise for well-known companies in Singapore, including the United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), National Environmental Agency (NEA), Mandai Wildlife Group, and Takashimaya. 

Many people have witnessed their growth and been impressed by it. Plastify has also won several awards and grants supporting their further development, including the 2024 United Nations ASEAN Blue Innovation Challenge.

What’s Next?

Plastify has come a long way in the four years they’ve been operating, and they have many more plans in the works: 

• More Plastic types: Plastify only collects type 2 (HDPE) and type 5 (PP) plastic right now. That’s because these are very commonly used in household items and safe and easy to work with. With higher capacity, Plastify could expand to other types of plastic, such as PET or more. 
• More educational workshops: More education means more awareness, which means changed consumer habits and a ripple effect of change.
• More trash collection capacity: Right now, Plastify can only collect up to 200kg of plastic a week, which is tiny compared to the many tons being taken to landfill. So, they want to expand to bigger products with higher plastic volume, like more furniture or large 3D-printed structures.

 

Help us help them. Donate to Precious Plastic today.

We at Precious Plastic are proud of all the workshops around the world that take our materials and expand on them to create a positive impact. We want to expand our work by improving our machine designs, community support and finding more ways to sell the recycled products being created by PP workspaces. So, we have launched “Version 5” of Precious Plastic. But we can’t succeed without your help. Join our global grass-roots movement by making a small donation. Any amount helps!

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