You may opt-out by. In 2019, Shanghai city has launched a new waste collection system. The workspace then can start turning profit and pays the moulds and machines back within an agreed upon time. :thinking: haha. These are just a couple of ideas but an overall structure is needed covering everything from finance to marketing to human resources and value chain management. Thats a big project youre up for Siemen! However, there is still a lack of a suitable business model. As @yuri-fabris physical stores will make a big difference; @unity is going to open a coffeeshop in Lyon city where at least 10ppl are getting active, i mean, its happening !! Then, each of the team members, including me, would have to go volunteer at a few workspaces all over the world to find challenges, flaws and new ideas. ? Really hope so . Success stories in the United States include Citizen Scientific Workshop in Idaho and Precious Plastic USA in Oregon. oh and before i forget : The problem is of course, that every workspace is in a different situation. Thanks for the replies everyone! I am from China. to compete with plastic pellets from ebay seems extreme hard! Together we filtered the ideas into things that can be incorporated in version 4, and things that I can work on right now. It turns out that founder Dave Hakkens is a Dutch designer with a YouTube following of more than 250,000 people. Great work. Im not saying that you are doing a bad thing constructing and selling different parts of the PP machines; but PLEASE keep in mind that most people will create the machines themselves. What would I like to do? We've just launched our map. So, i very positive results on plastics 2/4/5/6 (having issues with 1:PET and milk bottles HDPE) to do a paving system using 3 different Moulds. Pure recycling : schredd & wash and resell (to other PP artists or functionnals? So, they want people with plastic recycling machines to buySocial Plastic and make proper use of this great material. Plastic can easily be recycled. Thanks for taking part in this wonderful community! etc.. Of course every local shop already has its own ways and ideas, so the business plan mainly serves as a guideline, asking people whether theyve taken everything in account and providing them with the tools to do finance, accounting, marketing, supply chain etc. Let me know how I can help. PwC Cloud and Digital Transformation BrandVoice, How To Earn Cash Rewards For Everyday Spending. ). Even better if there could be a version for Developing Country context where the waste issue can cause cholera and municipalities cant even deal with waste let alone recycling. I believe that business and operations are crucial points of knowledge that all workspaces need. that will keep producing single-use shit and rapidly trash those countries again. But plastic is seen as a disposable and worthless material, its cheap, produced in enormous quantities and shipped all over the world. As you will find with your research a big obstacle to this (or at least that we found) is within the opensource nature of the project. On a global scale Precious Plastic needs to evolve by providing the new information through a book or web app. People involved in more than 400 projects around the world are using a recycling system that they downloaded for free from the internet. But a great number of people have to adapt their machines, outcomes and products to their contexts. Value capture: The Precious Plastic effort is almost entirely grassroots and volunteer, but has been supported by a mix of grants. there is a whole news onhttp://onearmy.world/preciousplastic/precious-plastic-in-south-america/. In short, its an alternative plastic recycling system run by friends and neighbors who use free plans and blueprints from the project website for everything from collecting and shredding to manufacturing recycled plastic products. In short, its an alternative plastic recycling system run by friends and neighbors who usefree plans and blueprintsfrom the project website for everythingfromcollectingandshreddingtomanufacturingrecycled plastic products. Management & Human Resources Topics Precious Plastic General ideas and suggestions Business Plan. without fear of raw material availability shortage. Writing a business chapter for the precious plastic starter manual. Why Its Time To Start Planting More Seagrass In Our Oceans, UK Garment Manufacturers Launch Federation To Make Leicester A Sustainable Sourcing Hub, Africa: The Global Energy Powerhouse Of Tomorrow. About collecting, sorting and shredding maybe we can do some good partnerships! Its just been kind of designed, used and marketed in the wrong way, in our view, says Joseph Klatt, business guy with Precious Plastic. Love it if people that start a workspace can make a living out of it! We need to give people the knowledge and tools to make their workspace profitable. How would I like to do this Version 4 includes a reporting tool to help gather more data about the efforts impact. Therefore, I think that it is more feasible to run the project about Precious Plastic by building up a commercial company. Do you know of anybody trying to do that that could help them? At the moment with the system i have, i can produce 1hexa or triangle or 2/3 hexa per around 30-40min; i have no idea how much they would be worth to sell, and i need to research on french legislation regarding plastic pavings (if there is any :o). Plant-Based Belgian Classic Vol-Au-Vent Goes On Tour. In this way, when setting up a new workspace people can skip the shredder (maybe the most sophisticated and expensive machine?) I 100% agree that more specialization will allow the precious plastic network to greatly expand. Simply put: profit serves to be reinvested in the project to have a growing impact. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. btw. I dont really have the technical knowledge needed for machine building or the chemistry knowledge to find new applications for discarded plastic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT4Qbp89nIQ. The added twist is that technology and energy are expensive, whereas labour is cheap and abundant (and in need of meaningful work). Are you interested to help our project in Nias, Indonesia? It means a new feature on the website (hellooo @katharinaelleke), the Precious Plastic platform would be the hub that @mc007 requests. The machinery is based on general industrial techniques, but designed to build yourself. David speaks reallyslowly well on this TED talk about his project, thePlastic Bank. @siemenbare you still around? And indeed, we do need to develop a proper business plan to help people become financially self-sufficient and help clear doubt to people that want to get started. Examples are: plastic collection points, sales points, or shredding facilities. I structured my own ideas, gathered ideas from the community and brainstormed with several people around me. The machine builder will provide moulds and machines to the workspace while keeping ownership. I am incredibly happy to see that my idea has fallen on fertile ground. Indeed a very interested thread here Is It Better To Lease Or Buy A Car In Summer 2022? Value Chain He put out a call to action to bring in volunteers for the Version 4 development effort, and they answered. As expected, some ideas sound great in practice but talking to someone who has a lot of experience with this makes you realise that they will probably not work. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Hello, I recently graduated from Business University and saw my freedom as a chance to travel around Southeast Asia. If you want to chat more please give me a shout. The project is a set of plastic machines, developed to set up a small scale plastic workshop. Instead of partnering with Ikea, you could create a business plan forresellers. Small objects wont for instance fit in a green policy, they easily land back in the trash and also fall faster down to the ocean floor, as awful small and deadly particles. Things I am working on right now: Currently living in SW France by the beach. Do you read the site news? #Lovenotlandfill: awareness campaign around textile reuse for young consumers in London, #Wearnext, the New York City awareness campaign to reuse clothing, 100 resilient cities: accessing a network of resilient cities, A [Re]verse pitch competition to develop social enterprises in Austin, A circular procurement framework in Toronto. I hope Ive answered all of your questions! Also, Im sure I can find like-minded people in the community that could help me make this idea a reality. According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, about 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s. In the end I put all of this together and made a presentation. The problem is of course, that every workspace is in a different situation. Creating a calculator tool in excel which can be used to calculate things like expected break-even-time, or initial investment needed. The rollout of this plan will have to happen on two levels. Its lightweight, strong, easy to shape and great to recycle. Also talking to Dave was a huge reality check. On a local scale there will be three template business plans. it makes trouble already in the first weeks, we need urgently to redesign this shredder. Im just writing a little update so you guys know what I have been up to in the meantime and what is coming up next. This can then be incorporated into precious plastic version 4. Im new here. I would say the impact is very huge. Great to see the community agrees developing the business side is what can make precious plastic grow through the roof! This is already marked as coming soon on the website under ( start > extra ) Then I went to Helmond to meet Dave in his workspace. i would suggest start using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) as a starting point.The people that already started a business in the plastic recycling could share their BMC with the community. The pellets resellers would buy (import) shredded plastic in bulk amounts fromthePlastic Bank and resell it toPrecious Plasticworkspacesthrough their own country. do you think we should insist on such green policies first ? Now all this Precious Plastic community is much bigger than just a business model; its a world crisis were facing and indeed a certain economy can and i am sure WILL and IS rising through all of us. Thanks for the replies everyone! Coupled with population growth and increased production levels, the world needs to realize that we simply cannot continue on this path. Plastic is one of the most precious materials on earth. Finally, people that want to get started get a guide to setting up their workspace, not only in a technical sense, but also from a business perspective. Only sell PP machines or recycle plastics? Also, as of now I need someone with good excel skills to help me make the calculator and bookkeeping tools. Since Precious Plastic is a tight, high trust community it would be possible for machine builders to do local sales on a loan. Thanks for opening a topic for this! also those pellets seem to have a really good quality, not even sure this can be done with the machines of PP, on a daily base. The overall goal would be to get this global community to work in unison and for the movement to grow into making a significant worldwide impact. After you decide to sign up you will become part of the team and can help create the content we need to significantly increase the worldwide impact of precious plastic. what type of plastic? But we would love to provide it for each member of the community. Hes based in the Netherlands, but is originally from Ohio. If the workspace pays the machine builder back completely (this can be done at once or in installments) the workspace gets the ownership over the machines. These are just a few ideas for things that could be incorporated in a business plan. Introducing online workspace profiles with concrete data and communication possibilities. Artistic : only brains sets the limits (what type of product? (since you already have the machines?) 2022 Forbes Media LLC. Whilst this entire project is still in development, the machines are shared open source online and improved by the community. @yuri-fabris, yes, its the most expensive thing of the PP machinery: motor, driveshaft, reducer & inverter pushes you into the 900 Euro range. In fact, not everybody needs to recycle plastic to be part of it, as @davehakkens says on his videos. at what price?) The idea is rather to challenge people to take all the important things in consideration, and make sure their plan is well thought through before they get started. I currently use a series of excels I developed in my previous job as a Project Manager for an international non-profit. If i can share my experience, i have my own company since 8 years now and there ARE certain things to get through before launching yourself in the adventure (profesionnally?) @mc007 In business school I basically learned how to make a significant global impact in our contemporary capitalist system.What Precious Plastic needs is a good Business Plan. I also started looking online. However, it is far from being a complete business strategy. Ive just left my 5 business Ive created which is still up and running (I guess I like new challenges!). Value proposition: Precious Plasticrecently launched Version 4 of its system, called the Precious Plastic Universe. Of all the plastic we use just 10% is recycled. Possibly help people with getting funding opportunities Letting communities see Waste has value would create an important shift in mindsets. We need to either replace plastic with more biodegradable materials, or close the waste circle. I love this site and everything precious plastic is doing but the key thing for me too was that it needs to be converted into a viable business in order to really grow and have an impact. The challenge is to create one that is like a template. Thanks so much for the contributions! An organization that mainly depends on donations and volunteers just doesnt grow fast enough. Ill give you guys a selection of what we came up with: For version 4: To make a living, you need lots networking, lots of time to design, prototyping and test a feasible product and in any case, it requires another 3000 5000 Euro for more machinery. Dag @siemenb, the current injection/extrusion machinery as deciding say for follow up manufacturing seems pretty much our biggest bottleneck, do you agree ? A 2 minutes video on BMC can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoAOzMTLP5s. Until then we just can hope the community comes up with reproducible success stories, IMHO . A business plan containing general information that can be used by everyone to suit their local needs. I think the business plan doesnt differ much from those who do micro manufacturing at home. What should be added and what should be changed or left out. I apologize up front for the big piece of text . Add yourself by clicking here! FYI. The site also has aPatreoncomponent with about 500 monthly donors. Precious Plastic doesnt necessary needs a business plan, we can kinda sustain ourselves. But the hardest is to know how the money will come in the business. In place of investing in machines, they would invest in setting up a store and buying products from nearworkspaces as well asbridging special requests from clients to providers. On the other hand it will be easier to set up a workspace and the community as a whole will grow quicker. If we can make that process easier im in. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. My ears are wide open. It was really good for me to be able to see, touch and feel everything that Ive been thinking about in the months before. Its just hard to capture because of the open source concept. Increase information given about how to do business. But thats not what I mean. This is why I use the business canvas. This is called Sustainable Business. We just need to sort it and have tools to turn it into new things. One competitive advantage of precious plastic products is that they are good looking and long lasting. Im wondering if I can use all Daves web info of if thats a copy write issue. While I was traveling I came up with all these ideas for closing the waste stream. I thought to myself: Great! But about 25,000 machine blueprints, posters and manuals were downloaded in January from the site after Version 4 was launched. You probably can come up with an applicable solution. For each of these a different business template is needed, but at the same time they are also all connected. But again, were not big on business as you probably have guessed. And this is a field where I do have skills. As Mattia posted todayhttp://onearmy.world/preciousplastic/bazar/ the bazaar is still not working _financially speaking_ correctly. I have previously started and ran by own retail/online sales business and also have several years of management consultancy experience. Only rely on the sale of recycled plastic products is uncompetitive, because ordinary plastic products of better quality, the price is cheaper. Indeed this is a VERY important point, the activity your PP business will have in a developped country is VERY different than in countries where recycling is unaccesible. What Does Herbert Diess Departure Mean For Volkswagens Electric Future? I personnally think it is too early for you to be able to earn enough money by selling the machines. What is your interest here ? What kind of income are you going for? An example of a great thing that precious plastic global can offer to workspaces are poster designs that workspaces can print hang around the community to raise awareness. We can start thinking aboutpellets resellers, not onlyproducts resellers. Globally and locally. After that I will need a team of people that each focus on a specific aspect of this plan to write a beta version. Furthermore, they should be brought into contact with their local machine builder where they can buy the materials they need. Scale up the network in some areas by adding people that specialize in one specific part of the process. to stay on track with the ops topic, please take really realistic numbers into account, please never ever ignore the real fees to build this machines, here in spain we pay huge amounts to get something decent. Would be an asset to the community to have a well presented uniform business plan, Sounds great, gather a team and drop by! Working with recycled plastic runs the risk of damaging or polluting machines, which might slow down the production process. Hey everyone! Finance & Accounting A webpage or app can indeed be used to facilitate this network in a peer-to-peer fashion. Possibly through a mobile app. Different situations mean different business plans. Community & Shared Value I am based in Rotterdam and want to set up a running business in Sorake, Indonesia. The sheer numbers are simply terrifying. great thread! Machine builders serve as a hub, from where all the workspaces can be supplied with machines and moulds but potentially also many other things needed to set up and operate a workspace. I know youre not the person to ask, Im responding to give you more idea of what the needs are. Thanks for the input! Hello ! Encouraging workspaces to partly outsource things like collecting plastic or selling products (part of the last step) An excel tool for bookkeeping should also be added later on. Indeed the concern from the beginning on was how to write something which is applicable to every workspace in every possible environment. Once I have written down all the information that should be added to the manual in the business chapter I need the community to have a thorough look at it, see what is relevant and what not. peace! To launch Version 4, the project received 300,000 euros (about $327,000 U.S.) from a French foundation calledFamae. So what can I do to help him?. Ikea could sell locally made precious plastic items in their stores worldwide. Hey @Siemenb thanks for the post and great enthusiasm. to find suitable products (which set the machine requirements, power consumption), Im wondering how to look at it. Im quite impressed with the idea and I feel glad they are starting here in Brazil, I will definitely dig into it and get involved. I have visited community plastic Rotterdam and this week a workshop in Den Haag. Your costs are specific to you local/national position. I am really excited to help precious plastic grow their global impact and Im totally willing to put my own time and effort into this project because I can learn so much and have such a positive impact. You need to take in account all the different expenses (rent, salary,electricity etc..) I read you are looking for success stories around PP; why dont you give it a try ? Groetjes, Lenny Global Networks & Strategy How effecient are you going to be doing such or such specific task in your business such as plastic schredding, plastic washing, testing, making your products, then communicate around your products, sell your products (arrange all the logistics w/ the product delivery), get paid & pay yourself? There, users would be able to meet resellers and providers. Please stop having such a big fixation on how it works in spain (you know the PP community is worldwide, not just limited to developped countries). The money was used to bring more than 100 volunteers to the Netherlands to work on the project, using warehouse space donated by the city of Eindhoven. I am the founder of a recycling charity (so I understand excel/money) and am currently setting up a community-run project in Dominica. Precious Plastic started six years ago and has partnered with organizations including the United Nations Environment Programme in Kenya, Parley for the Oceans in the Maldives and Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh to help set up plastic recycling workspaces and push local plastic recycling. Also, please keep in mind @timhardex you CANNOT take responsibility to sell a business plan to your clients. Its from an open-source project called Precious Plastic, based in the Netherlands. 80% of the plastic waste enters the oceans from land based sources. Jenifer, Hello, this is a great idea! It would also make a huge difference if we have reliable and cheap source for machines. If youre extreme lucky: 500 Euro and there is no labour or extra materials like couplings, frame, mounts, wirings included yet. Let me explain, we offer one way of doing things in a particular place of the planet. Hello, Mainly because the machines that produce plastic products are expensive, extremely complex and are used very efficient to keep costs low. This is based around the business canvas, which will be included. Having all those machines and plastic recycled ready for production represents only 30% of the whole operation. these things are given from mother to mother, the point here is that pp products need to full fill some criterias. Interesting business model by Plastic collective Australia, they make a shruder and sell it with all services included. +100 for distributed shredding facilities, despite i am in favour of zero-kilometer-transport policies. These are machines you can build yourself or you can buy them through our online marketplace and thats where independent machine builders around the world are building machines and selling them, Klatt explains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OGFKT8c7jg. On the web, people just repeat themselves over and over, keep inside their own bubble and, in reality, they dont actually choose what they are going to see when theygo out shopping. the next one could be a time limit so art objects wont be allowed en mass as we have now. Shredded plastic can be transformed into beautiful new things. They created an open-sourced extruder for 3d printing filament and want people to start building it, buying Social Plastic and selling or using the filament produced by themselves. Together with a dedicated team, I would like to set up an all-round, openly available business plan that the Precious Plastic community can use to start increasing their local impact. So I am currently thinking of a business model that combines recycled plastics with education and entertainment. and even if you got it all setup, you still have to wonder how long the shredder-box will last. Profit!? Some people reproduce it exactly the same. bigger compagnies? what technique? 6.3 billion metric tons of this has become plastic waste and of that, only 9% has ever been recycled. How did they get all those volunteers, ranging from engineers to activists, to spend months developing Version 4, which includes free plans for building a new recycled shredder, extrusion and sheetpress? To launch Version 4, the project received 300,000 euros (about $327,000 U.S.) from a French foundation called Famae. The money was used to bring more than 100 volunteers to the Netherlands to work on the project, using warehouse space donated by the city of Eindhoven. However, the North has easier access to the machinery. However, in order for the project to grow, each workspace needs its economic viability. I adapted it especially for precious plastic workspaces (see image). Instead, he envisions small community centers where people can drop off plastic waste, get reimbursed for it, and then the shop will convert the old bottles and litter into purchasable goods. @imuh Willing to invest some time by offering assistance if you need it. Precious plastic should definitely not tell people exactly what to do and when to do it. One for workspaces, machine builders and people that want to get started. Im open to either a business or non-profit set-up, but viability is the key, and as you have stated, a good business model would help everyone to succeed. Big and small everyone has been a big help so far. When some people specialize in reselling products, or collecting and shredding plastic, the people in the workspace will have more time to experiment and make stuff. But wait, there already is a Business Plan! The basic idea: Plastic can be a resource if you have the tools to turn it into beautiful new things. Follow this author to improve your content experience. The Precious Plastic effort is almost entirely grassroots and volunteer, but has been supported by a mix of grants. You can find the drawings of the extruderhere. Also,Plastic Bank would guarantee a huge amount of shredded plasticright now. The new machines that go along with Version 4 cost 2,000-4,000 euros to build. Hello @siemenb ! Operations & Product Strategy As said earlier i have a company since a couple years; my challenge now is to make a complementary activity rise through Precious Plastic. Hoping to hear from you. An example of a mutually beneficial business partnership would be Ikea. The site also has a Patreon component with about 500 monthly donors. You can give development axes, but you can not be blamed if people fail around PP Projects. At Precious Plastic Shanghai we provide solutions to team engagement, waste management and social responsibility. For this, I would first like to meet with Dave in his workspace to talk about the business side of precious plastic and his vision for the future (if you are reading this Dave, hit me up!). Somebody is already working to solve this problem in an awesome, open-sourced way. I agree that setting up any profitable small business is difficult and, like Mattia also mentioned; every situation is different. Setting up information hubs and local forums to strengthen local networks and answer questions. I just asked today for suite-able products here. Basically, they are pretty aware that they are sellingSocial Plastic to big companies (which are helping them take people out of the grips of ultra poverty and clean the environment!) Moving plastic around may not be good because of CO2 emissions but we are alleviatingthree other problems: we give ultra poor people a steady source of income,we remove garbage from the environment and weprevent plastic from getting back to the places it was collected by not creating crap. Marketing & Branding I like it because physical stores givegreater exposure to Precious Plastic potential clients and avoidinternational shipping as the resellers buy theirproducts from local workspaces. App/Book Design. The creators call it a universe because the methods are being used all over the world (see a map) and the website allows folks in cities and regions to connect and share knowledge. Different situations mean different business plans Tagged:business, businessplan, community, funding, Help, impact, together, Hello Precious Plastic community! So thats great! Furthermore, people with a recycling workshop now have the online Bazar to sell their products. If the workspace does not manage to raise enough funds within the set time the machine builder can come to an agreement with the workspace to extend the payback time or to take back the machines.