The Island called Koh Taen is just off the south-west corner of Koh Samui, southern Thailand.  It is about 7km square and has a permanent local Thai community of about 30 people. It is entirely off-grid, with most people using generators and some solar power. The amount of plastic waste that washes up on the beaches is significant and with limited community resources it is often buried, burnt or just left to wash back into the ocean.

These projects are largely undertaken to improve real estate value, but the community has shown a genuine interest in projects that improve sustainability and community life. Given the opportunity to create income and employment, the community could significantly benefit economically whilst drastically reducing the amount of plastic waste in their environment and creating useable items for their isolated community members.

Tioman Island is located 32km off the east coast of Malaysia Peninsula. Along with 7 surrounding smaller islands, this region has been declared a Marine Protected Area. There are 7 villages with a local population of 3000.  With a tourist population of 200,000 per year, this island experiences enormous pressure on their infrastructure and waste management services. Waste on the island is either burnt or dumped, with minimal recycling of any plastics.

Reef Check is a scientifically based organisation that assesses and supports the health of coral reefs globally. Their work with the Cintai Tioman Program is an integrated approach to assist in increasing the ecological and social resilience of the Island of Tioman. From activities on coral reef rehabilitation to community-based engagements, Cintai Tioman aims to help reduce the impact of human activities on coral reefs around Tioman Island, empowering the local communities to get involved in the management and conservation of their islands resources.  The addition of a Shruder Resource Recovery program would be a beneficial solution, turning the islands plastic waste into income generating resources.

Over 100 million plastic bottles are discarded in Cambodia every year; over 10 million plastic bags A DAY are used in Phnom Penh alone! In major urban centres, local authorities collect rubbish, including plastic, and send it to landfill. In rural Cambodia, plastic waste either lays on the ground for years or gets burnt. A stunning countryside that’s polluted with plastic that no one wants.

PC is partnering with the Cambodia Rural Students Trust (CRST), an NGO based in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with the mission of ‘Breaking the poverty cycle through education’. What makes this organisation unique is that it’s entirely managed by its students, with extensive mentoring from overseas professionals. CRST has been providing high school and university education to bright students from poor families since 2011, as well as business and leadership education through it’s educational-social-enterprises. 

Project R is CRST’s ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Plastic for Education’ program – providing scholarships to rural high school students as a reward for becoming Environmental Ambassadors! Project R includes environmental education in rural high schools and villages, leading to the collection of plastic for recycling! The recycled plastic is then provided back to the local villagers to weave into matts, baskets and other functional products which they sell to supplement their income, thereby providing a full cycle from trash, to education, to economic sustainability!

Gizo, in the Solomon Islands is the hub around which the Western Province revolves. Plasticwise Gizo started a cooperative group of weavers on the islands of Ghizo where 7,000 people live. This area is the central hub for the Solomon Islands western province.  With little to no waste management, this dedicated group work towards creating solutions to waste. 

As part of the Networks for Sustainable Environment, the group only works with 15 local NGOs and UN Women and was recognized by the Australian organization Plasticwise as its first international branch in August 2017. Now, Plasticwise Gizo is looking for donations and funding for their activities. The financial part is just one of the challenges Solomon faces in the near future.   A Shruder program would increase their income and enable them to transform waste to resources with appropriate equipment and knowledge sharing.

North Sipora Island (part of the Mentawai Islands group) located 150 kilometres off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, has a population of 12000 and 8 resorts. The main industries are fisheries and increasingly tourism. Single use plastics, such as cups, straws and bottles, are used in abundance throughout the community. As there is no organised plastic waste management system in North Sipora, waste materials are either burnt or dumped. Plastic waste that is dumped often finds its way into rivers and the ocean, especially after heavy rains or a storm, harming all marine life and affecting local community health .

A Perfect Foundation is a For-Social Change Organisation, created by surfers to educate and empower local communities in remote global regions to make a sustainable difference. The Education and Conservation Centre is working together with local community members to help reduce plastic waste, developing capacity building skills through workshops, environmental education and resource recovery. Recently they have expanded their environmental program to include a recycling collection depot for local businesses and established a reliable transportation route back to the mainland recycling centre. Working in partnership with Plastic Collective, the foundation will continue to expand on their program. An onsite plastic processing plant, including the Shruder machine, tools and working with plastics training will provide the means to reduce transportation costs of bulky plastic to the mainland, increase current profits and create a more sustainable future for the whole community.

Kei Islands are located in south-eastern Indonesia in Maluku Province. The major area of urbanisation is in the twin cities of Tual and Langgur. While there is growing awareness of the need for careful waste management to minimise leakage into marine habitats, recent surveys indicate that debris densities on beaches in the urban centre are amongst the highest documented globally. Excellent waste management infrastructure is available but only a small proportion of waste makes it to the facility.

A new waste management facility already exists, however the challenge in Tual/Langgur is to optimise waste collection systems and empower the local communities to see value in the program. By working with the local government to establish collection and locating smaller recycling units to operate as new creative business opportunities, our partnership with Tual State Fisheries Polytechnic will significantly increase the amount of waste processed.

Pulau Mabul is a small island off the coast of Semporna, Sabah, with a population of roughly 5,000. With no centralised waste management services, it falls on the individual household or resorts to responsibly deal with their own plastic waste. Some resorts take their waste back to the mainland, but the majority of waste is dumped directly into the ocean, buried or burnt. People do not have the resources to dispose of it correctly. The lack of recycling facilities in eastern Sabah means most rubbish that is taken back to the mainland is simply sent to landfill.

SJ SEAS aims to develop an island resource recovery program in partnership with Plastic Collective, through Mabul Community Market (MCM). This alternative livelihood project will enable the locals to sell handcrafted souvenirs to tourists, substituting unsustainable trade based on ocean exploitation (corals, shells and shark tooth necklaces). The MCM will use the Shruder program to upcycle plastic waste on the island and create sustainable micro-enterprises, develop economic opportunities and livelihoods and address the major problem of plastic waste.