Ecobags and Plastic Collective: A Partnership Driving Real Plastic Impact

Tackling Plastic Waste Together

At Plastic Collective, we believe that every brand has the power to drive meaningful change in the fight against plastic pollution. That’s why we’re proud to announce our partnership with Ecobags, a brand committed to reducing plastic waste and promoting a more sustainable future.

Through this collaboration, Ecobags is investing in reducing their plastic waste impact through our SEArcular by Greencore Indonesia Collection and Recycling Project, ensuring that plastic is removed from the environment and responsibly managed.

What This Partnership Means

✅ 10 tonnes of plastic waste collected in the first year – preventing plastic from polluting nature and oceans.
✅ A three-year commitment to sustainability, supporting long-term plastic recovery.
✅ Verra-certified plastic collection credits, ensuring full transparency and measurable impact.

Making A Difference: Empowering Waste Pickers for a Better Future

Tackling Indonesia’s Plastic Crisis

Indonesia is the third largest contributor to marine plastic pollution globally with high rates of plastic leakage into the environment from both collected and uncollected waste. Plastic waste in Indonesia is commonly burned, left in dumpsites, or taken to landfill sites operating beyond capacity, this mismanagement has negative health consequences for large swathes of the Indonesian population. There was also a widespread lack of incentives for coastal communities to collect the ocean bound plastic polluting their neighbourhoods (flexible plastics in particular), creating an urgent need for this empowerment-focused project.

The SEArcular by Greencore project in Java, Indonesia, is actively working to intercept plastic waste before it reaches the ocean, tackling the crisis through structured plastic collection and recycling efforts. A dedicated network of waste pickers and aggregators actively collects plastic waste from beaches, rivers, and drainage systems, preventing it from polluting high-risk areas. They also recover plastic from public spaces and streets, ensuring it doesn’t end up in unmanaged landfills, as well as from local businesses and households, creating a more sustainable plastic recovery supply chain. Operating within a 2 km radius of their homes, waste pickers carefully collect, bag, and sort plastic to meet the project’s quality standards. In return, they receive fair wages and premium prices for their efforts, providing them with sustainable livelihoods while tackling the growing plastic crisis. The SEArcular project is particularly focused on recycling difficult-to-process flexible plastics, ensuring that materials such as plastic bags, sachets, and multilayered packaging do not end up in nature or unmanaged waste systems.

Ecobags’ commitment to funding this plastic collection and recycling activity will help expand Greencore’s impact. And this goes far beyond pure environmental benefit; Ecobags is also supporting Greencore’s provide its waste-picking communities with:

✅Fair wages and safe better working conditions
✅ Training and education to improve plastic waste recycling safety and efficiency
✅ Access to health insurance through the Social Plus Scheme, ensuring waste pickers and their families receive critical medical support.

With Ecobags’ commitment, more plastic will be recovered and recycled, supporting both waste pickers’ livelihoods and the transition to a circular economy where plastic waste is repurposed instead of discarded.

The collected waste is transported to SEArcular by Greencore collection centres and warehouses for aggregation and sorting.

The Power of Verra Certification

Transparency is key in the fight against plastic waste. That’s why this partnership is backed by Verra-certified plastic collection, ensuring that every tonne of plastic recovered is: 

✅ Tracked and independently verified – ensuring the impact is real and measurable.
✅ Aligned with global sustainability standards, reinforcing Ecobags’ credibility.
✅ Contributing to a scalable solutions for plastic pollution reduction.

Plastic Collective’s certification badges provide a high-integrity signal to consumers that a brand’s claimed impact is real. By earning these badges, Ecobags can confidently showcase its sustainability achievements, demonstrating its commitment to responsible plastic use to customers. For example, Ecobags has earned the “10 Tonnes of Plastic Collected Per Year” badge, verifying that it has committed to removing 10 tonnes of plastic waste from the environment in its first year through a certified plastic collection project.