Go Plastic initiative attracts innovation and entrepreneurship for a sustainable plastics industry.
As plastics recycling becomes ever more critical to reduce pollution and the use of natural resources, new approaches are needed to drive innovation torwards a circular plastics economy.
The Go Plastic initiative, created by Acoplásticos (Asociación Colombiana De Industrias Plásticas), aims to invigorate the plastics recycling markets in Colombia through projects aimed at companies and entrepreneurs that offer relevant solutions in the industry.
Fresh thinking for plastic recycling
Acoplásticos launched a call for entrepreneurs and business leaders in the plastics circular economy industries to inject capital into productive projects focused on the circular economy of plastics. Projects included:
- Business roundtables: Through a virtual platform, producers, recyclers and transformers of recycled plastic materials from all over the country and their potential clients scheduled business appointments.
- Collaborative financing: With a strategic alliance between Acoplásticos and the crowdfunding platform of the Colombian Stock Exchange’ A2Censo’, a campaign was launched to generate collaborative investment in productive projects that generate environmental solutions for managing plastic waste.
- Plas-Tic: An online platform that aggregates a wealth of content on plastic circularity, including information on recycling technologies, eco-design, sustainability practices, training, standards and regulations, and success stories from around the world.
- Regional and community projects: Under the Go Plastic umbrella, regional and community projects are also developed and supported. These projects seek to have a triple social, economic and environmental impact.
- Social: The creation, strengthening and development of new value chains around the recycling and use of plastics.
- Environment: The reincorporation of recycled materials into the circular economy and economic cycle and reducing waste and use of natural resources
- Economic cycle: Generating green jobs and boosting the economy around using recycled plastics.
How recycling plastics supports business growth
The Go Plastic initiative allows participants to generate business opportunities, access and receive business scaling opportunities, training, and capital investment, and make their brand visible. This will enable them to strengthen their business model and increase their productivity and competitiveness. These processes drive development and economic growth for the country through the circular economy, for example:
The Go Plastic Project has delivered a direct impact on both recyclers and SMEs in the plastic recycling sector through business scaling, capital injection for the expansion of installed capacity, capacity building through business mentoring, and construction of B2B spaces that by 2021 had generated negotiations for approximately COP 2,940,800,000 (about USD 720,000) of business.
In a second call, through an alliance between Acoplásticos and the Colombian Stock Exchange via its crowdfunding platform, financing of more than 1.2 billion was obtained for the competitive growth of three companies in Colombia. The first Go Plastic company applied for a record funding of 1,000,000,000 (about 251.000 USD) with 885 investors, and the second achieved the required amount in just two minutes with 115 investors.
After three years, during which the companies were able to show sustained growth, 12 Go Plastic companies were able to exhibit their projects at ColombiaPlast, the most important meeting in the Andean region, Central America, and the Caribbean for the plastics, rubber, petrochemicals, containers, and packaging sectors. For the first time at this international fair, a space was dedicated to positioning and making visible the circular economy as a business model and as a sustainable solution to the challenges of the traditional plastics industry.
Measuring the success of Go Plastic
Without Go Plastic having exclusive credit, a survey conducted by Acoplásticos shows a 19% growth in tons recycled in 2021, a 40% increase in the total capacity for plastics recycling in Colombia in the last two years, and a 120% increase in investments made in 2021 for this sector.
Go Plastic has facilitated the training of entrepreneurs in areas such as business skills, technical information on plastics, and information on the market and the plastics industry in Colombia. New opportunities for growth and employment have also been generated. In addition, local projects in areas far from production centers have been supported and accompanied by Acoplásticos as part of its Go Plastic strategy.
Looking to the future of plastic recycling
Through Go Plastic, Acoplásticos has been addressing environmental pollution and responding to the needs within the plastic recycling industry, such as the lack of resources and support for entrepreneurs seeking to provide circular economy solutions for plastic waste and the scarcity of information in Colombia on the use and recycling of plastics.
“The consolidation of a dynamic post-consumer plastics market, based on circular economy principles, with market forces and multiple actors, is a short- and long-term alternative to positively impact the improper disposal of plastic waste. There are more than 70,000 informal recyclers in Colombia, with a post-consumer plastic waste recycling capacity of over 300,000 tons per year. These values can double or triple in the coming years, representing a significant opportunity to create new jobs and income.”
Daniel Mitchell, President, Acoplásticos
Under the Go Plastic umbrella, projects have been developed and supported in regions and communities that seek to have a triple impact: social, creating, strengthening, and developing new value chains around the recycling and use of plastics; environmental, reincorporating these materials into the circular economy cycle; and economic, generating green jobs and boosting the economy around the use of recycled material. With the plastics industry responsible for 220,000 direct jobs, plus a further 80,000 in the recycling sector, the Go Plastic initiative seeks to maintain a double-digit growth rate for the plastics recycling industry over the next decade, supporting continued job growth.
