Community-based Collection and Upcycling of Non-Recyclable Ocean-Bound Plastics in Sihanoukville, Cambodia (OBP)

This project works with polluted coastal communities in Sihanoukville, a fast-growing city on the southern coast of Cambodia, to stop plastic leakage into the environment and ocean by collecting and upcycling hard-to-recycle plastic. 

In many communities across Cambodia, which lacks a formal waste management system, mismanaged plastic waste has reached an emergency state due to a sharp rise in consumption. Refuse leaks into households, litters shorelines, and floats along waterways.  

The project, a social enterprise on a mission to turn environmental challenges into opportunities for social and economic development, aims to create a circular economy by incentivizing the community to collect all kinds of plastic - even low value plastic that otherwise would be passed by.

This project partner buys plastic waste from waste pickers who collect it from the environment, waterways, shorelines, and along the street, creating jobs for the poor and generating extra income for the community.  The project partner sorts the plastic waste and upcycles hard-to-recycle plastic such as HDPE (bottle caps, milk or soap bottles, other bottles), LDPE (bags and films), and PP (food packaging, old chair, table) into plastic boards that be used for furniture or building materials at its fully-equipped Material Recovery Facility.  PET bottles are sold to recyclers, and non-recyclable plastic is sent for co-processing.

The increased sales of credits and upcycled products will help this project add more capacity into its production, expand its collection to more communities and provide better income to the plastic waste collectors.