FAQ

At Plastic Bank, our commitment to creating a regenerative impact on both the environment and communities sets us apart in the realm of plastic collection and recycling. Here’s how we extend our influence beyond the basic collection of plastic:

1. Blockchain technology: We utilize a proprietary blockchain platform that ensures the traceability of every kilogram of collected plastic. This technology guarantees the authenticity of the impact, securing income for our collection members and providing reliable data for our partners and the public.

2. In-country operations: We maintain a robust presence with over 500 collection branches in communities on the frontlines of poverty and plastic pollution. Our teams in Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cameroon work closely within these communities, offering capacity building and training to members on recycling, financial inclusion, and utilization of Plastic Bank benefits. Our teams also ensure strict adherence to our Code of Conduct, maintaining high standards of practice and ethics in all interactions.

3. Impact Account premium features: Our partners and members can effectively manage and communicate their contributions through their Impact Account. This platform offers exclusive access to real-time data, authentic stories, images, and videos from our collection communities. Additionally, it includes tailored web pages, ready-to-use in-store materials, and downloadable impact certificates that detail the amount of plastic collected through their efforts. These tools are designed to help partners and members share their commitment to sustainability and their role in the purpose economy with their customers.

4. Social and economic benefits: In addition to paying above-market prices for collected plastic, we provide our collection members with access to several social benefits, in line with their needs. Based on location, our members gain access to benefits including health and life insurance, digital connectivity, grocery vouchers, school supplies, zero-interest loans, and other fintech services.

A financial technology enterprise that aims at solving (or at least having a positive impact on) social problems while ensuring access to financial services and products for the unbanked.

Check out the Plastic Bank blog to learn more about poverty, plastic pollution, and how humanity can overcome both.

The first step is to start where you are with what you have. Here are some recommendations to get you started:

1. Find out how much plastic you consume through our Plastic Footprint Calculator, then take steps to reduce your footprint with one of our Impact Certificates. Begin with small changes that can make a big impact.
2. Avoid single-use plastic. Choose reusable containers and bottles instead.
3. Buy groceries in bulk to reduce plastic packaging waste.
4. Talk to your local grocers and look for products that are helping to restore the damage that’s been done to our environment.
5. Check out our Partnership Programs to find out how your business can get involved.

A plastic footprint is the amount of plastic an individual, family, workforce, product or brand of products uses and disposes of in a specific period of time. The average plastic footprint of an individual is 84 kilograms each year. Check out our Plastic Footprint Calculator to find out how much you use and dispose of, then take steps to reduce your footprint through small changes that can make a big impact.

Through our Community Partnership Program, we collaborate with schools, places of worship, establishments, and institutions to spread awareness about plastic pollution and the Plastic Bank solution. We set up accessible dropboxes on premises where your community can drop plastic from their homes for recycling. The schools, places of worship, establishments, and institutions then exchange the plastic for income to help launch and fund social services programs for the larger community. Contact Us if your community is interested in partnering with us.

Visit the Global Impact page to learn about our country and community expansion roadmap. You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on our growing impact worldwide.

The most up-to-date figures can be found at plasticbank.com.

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.

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.

We believe that plastic shouldn’t flow into the ocean to start with, and before we can effectively clean plastic debris from the ocean, we must turn off the tap to single-use plastic. That is why we gather discarded plastic from the environment within 50km of the ocean, or ocean-bound waterway.

Plastic Bank operates in countries with high rates of plastic pollution and poverty. Many such countries lack proper waste management infrastructure and have a greater dependency on single-use packaging for clean and sterile goods. This results in a disproportionate amount of plastic pollution.

Leveraging Plastic Bank’s success in activating collection communities across the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and Egypt, Plastic Bank began to test its partner-based expansions in January 2022 by opening in Thailand. In this model, we enter into a strategic alliance with a local qualified processor to build ethical collection communities in different parts of the globe. The local qualified partner sets up Plastic Bank’s operations and implements our collection model using the PlasticBank® app. This model allows us to scale our solution faster. The deployment of this model is currently underway in Thailand with EcoBlue Limited.

We currently operate in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Egypt.

Our headquarters is located in Canada, in the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Our HQ acts as a central hub for our fully remote, globally distributed workforce.

Plastic Bank was founded in May 2013 by David Katz and Shaun Frankson.

“I think the real gift of that day was the realization that I didn’t need to create Plastic Bank. I needed to become the person who could. It was really a spiritual day of awakening for me. There was a still, quiet voice, unattached to outcome and meaning. It was a space that said, ‘You can become the person who makes change in the world.’”

• David Katz, on the moment he conceived Plastic Bank just before lunch on May 9, 2013.

Our Vision
We envision a wasteless and better world where everyone is a changemaker.

Our Values
Love(v) -Serve life
Positively impacting social and economic systems requires a deep compassion for people and our planet. When making choices, we always defer to amplifying love over fighting fear.

Reveal – Seek value
By revealing the value in plastic, we’re making it too valuable to discard. By revealing the value of under-served peoples, we’re connecting the world.

Gather- Bring together
We gather the world together, then we gather materials together. Worldwide change requires a worldwide community.

Create – Breathe into existence
To create is to bring to life something that did not exist before. Together, the world is calling upon us to create through our words and actions.

Our Mission
Gathering for prosperity.