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.

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.

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.

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.

To effectively tackle plastic pollution, strategies centered around plastic waste reduction are essential. This includes adopting reusable products to minimize the reliance on single-use plastics, supporting and engaging in recycling programs, and educating communities about the impact of plastic waste. Additionally, the concept of plastic offset plays a pivotal role. Similar to carbon offsetting, this involves actions that compensate for the plastic footprint created by individuals or organizations, such as funding plastic collection efforts or investing in technologies that contribute to reducing plastic waste in the environment. Together, these approaches can lead to a significant decrease in plastic pollution.