WILDPLASTIC: Turning Wild Plastic into a Resource

At the Greentech.LIVE conference in Hamburg, Ronja Lamberty from WILDPLASTIC talks about collecting wild plastic from the environment and returning it to the recycling cycle.

The WILDPLASTIC team focuses on plastic that ends up on the streets or in nature in countries without functioning waste systems.

WILDPLASTIC focuses in particular on low-density polyethylene, only around 6% of which is recycled worldwide.

Recovering Difficult-to-Recycle Plastic: Local and European Solutions

Ronja and Team Ziel’s aim is to recover plastic that is difficult to recycle and process it either locally or in Europe. They work with partners in the countries concerned to wash the plastic, shred it, and recycle it as high-quality granulate.

The company focuses on circular products made exclusively from mono-material to facilitate the recycling process. One of the first products was bin liners made from wild plastic to encourage consumers to think about their plastic consumption.

Expanding Beyond Bin Liners: Sustainable Packaging Solutions

In the meantime, they have grown far beyond bin liners and have developed mailing bags for Otto and polybags, among other things.

The environmental impact of transporting wild plastic to Europe was examined in a life cycle analysis. The result: the transportation and recycling of wild plastic saves more CO2 than the production of new plastic.

WILDPLASTIC shows that plastic waste is not just a problem, but a resource that can be used to create sustainable products. Through partnerships with large companies such as Otto and Hermes, WILDPLASTIC goes one step further and encourages other companies to take responsibility and use sustainable packaging.