Plastic Bank identifies vulnerable coastlines at the intersection of plastic pollution and poverty across the world that would benefit from plastic collection infrastructure. We then empower local entrepreneurs to establish collection branches in convenient locations and help gather collection communities together to collect discarded plastic from the environment. Community members exchange their collections at the branch for additional income and access to social, helping them to pave a path out of poverty and become changemakers by reducing plastic pollution. Collection members and collection branches are registered through the PlasticBank® app that records every transaction, enables traceable collection, secures income, and verifies reporting.

An individual who is over 18 years of age, registered through the PlasticBank® app, and gathers discarded plastic from the environment is a collection community member. Some are full-time members who have worked in informal waste collection for many years, while others work with us on a part-time basis to supplement other sources of income. Regardless of how much or how often our collection community members collect plastic, age-verified collection members can exchange plastic for additional income and social benefits at their local collection branch.

Plastic Bank begins working in new territories with existing informal recycling communities wherever possible. We train and certify local collection communities (collection community members and collection branches alike) for compliance with our code of conduct and acquaint them with the PlasticBank® app usage requirements to enable traceability. We incentivize collection benefits for existing members and attract new participants.

We also establish Community Partnerships with local schools, places of worship, establishments, and institutions to set up accessible collection branches. We raise awareness about recycling and encourage proper waste segregation in households to reduce plastic pollution.

The plastic collected through our collection communities is delivered to our processing partners for reprocessing into Social Plastic® feedstock and reintegrated into products and packaging by partner organizations and brands.

We reveal the true economic value of plastic, making it too valuable to be left in the environment. In doing so, we’ve created a system for plastic exchange similar to any other currency exchange. Our PlasticBank® app uses fintech and blockchain technology to securely execute plastic transactions. The app’s digital wallet is often the first savings account that our members own. For those reasons, we call ourselves Plastic Bank.