Wauw Version 4 already. I remember when started working on this project, we figured its for a few months or something. Just a small project and then move on. Never intended to work on it for this long… But its hard to just deny this massive global plastic problem and move on. Specially when we know there is more we can do. So here we go. Starting Version 4. 👊

Current Version

‍Precious Plastic started 5 years ago and has grown into a big community of enthusiastic people around the world recycling plastic. Over 200 plastic recycling workspaces have already been set up and a new one is opening up somewhere around the world every week. This is great and keeps expanding. However, the plastic problem is still way, way bigger than us- most of the plastic is still laying around as waste. We can do more. Specially looking out our map with +6000 people from around the world wanting to get started. Until now Precious Plastic is hacked together with minimal resources thanks to the help of people around the world. It is now time to step up our game and get more professional (at least a bit :). We have been gathering feedback and shaping a plan for a new version. Precious Plastic Version 4.

Next. Version 4.

‍We set up a big (online) infrastructure in the previous years. Bazar, map, community, product examples, documentation etc. It all works but could be way better. This time we actually have a big new workspace and €300.000 budget from an award we won. Incredible. We can get serious now!

Our goal is to completely rebuild and develop one strong platform. A massive digital operation but crucial for the future of our online community. Besides our online world we want to increase recycling rates and make it easier to recycle plastic in large amounts, bulk. We learned it’s powerful to focus on one technique and fully master this. This means developing a more industrial version of machines, more expensive but also more robust and more efficient. And finally we want to research and explore the future of plastic recycling, embrace new technologies and methods. Using lasers to scan different types and robotics to sort plastic. But also get beyond recycling and dive into alternatives materials. These are our key points to work on for this version. On top of this we also have a huge list of small improvements.

€300.000 is peanuts

‍I know it sounds like a lot of money. But from a development point of view its not much.  Hiring a few engineers or developers for a year would already drain the entire budget. And we need way more people to execute this massive plan. So we are going to use all of the money we have to facilitate passionate people. Providing a workspace, materials, bed, food and probably a bit of chocolate here and there for people that want to work on this topic. Bringing them all together in one space to really create a powerful team driven by passion and dedication. You can read the entire plan here, it contains all the elements we want to work on.

Join the ride

‍If you want to help out,  go to next.preciousplastic.com to see all the tasks we still need help with and sign up to come to the Netherlands to help us out. Oh. And big thanks for those supporting us on Patreon all this time. Its been such a powerful steady help for us to make sure we can always stay focussed and move forward without having to do side jobs in the weekend 🙏