Climate Action Curaçao Project #37146

Green Phenix - Creating a circular economy

by Friends of Sea Turtle Conservation Curacao

Green Phenix - Creating a circular economy

Project Report | Aug 30, 2019
Amazing progress

By Sabine Berendse | Founder

Part of the Green Phenix team for "waste no more"

The 'Waste no More" project has made amazing progress in the last few months. With now 2 extruders, 2 recycled PET 3D printers and a grinder we started producing the first products out of waste plastic from the island of Curacao.

With these new unique machines from '3D seed' we made really good steps. Then with 9 'yu di korsou' people joining our team through the SOAW learning project we were able to bring our operation to a next level.

Experimenting with 3D designs and different PET bottle brands, we created a vide variety of products printed with bottles that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill. Soap holders, decorative lizards, sea turtles, bracelets, coasters, logo's for differnt organisations and plant holders are just some of the products that we have printed so far.

With the extruders we have made 6 different sizes of beams so far, which we can use for multiple applications.

We've set up the first steps for a collaboration with Selikor, the largest waste collector on Curacao and we introduced our project to the Dutch Represenatives, the Britt Club and the minister of Education, Science, Culture & Sports.

This week we will be presenting for the rotary and next week we will be pitching in front of a jury because we have been nominated for the Social and the Sustainable Innovation awards for 2019. Exciting times with good things ahead!

With the larger team we now really need an industrial shredder, so we can speed up the production. That will be the next big step towards a circular economy on our beautiful island. But since we now have the whole production up and running and lots of people interested in our initiative we are hoping that is a next step that we will soon be able to make.

Sharing the stories we have on our social media is highly appreciated, because we want to demonstrate that it is indeed possible to create a local recycling industy that not only stimulates a circular economy, but also creates employment opportunities.

Some of the printed products

Some of the extruded products

Links:

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Jun 3, 2019
Slowly but surely

By Sabine Berendse | Founder

Feb 19, 2019
We are not giving up!

By Sabine Berendse | Project Leader

Three months ago we launched the crowdfunding for 'Waste no More'. We are convinced this project is a part of the sollution to the enormous problem of plastic pollution. Creating a circular economy on the islands in the Caribbean will greatly reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean and then the clean up efforts more and more people are undertaking will have a longer lasting effect. Introducing a scaled version of the Precious Plastic machines on Curacao and building capacity for our region is essential.

We receive a lot of positive comments,as well as some international awards, like the grassroots Conservation Award, during the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Charleston. However, so far we have only received 21 donations with a total value of 892 usd. This is not nearly enough to get started and it also doesn't yet show the broad engagement we are aiming for. However, we do receive support in other ways than money, which keeps us from giving up. And good things take time....

We are currently in the process of finding a good workspot. It has to have enough space fro the machines, storage and 20 people working there. We now have several options, looking into then and we will be able to make a decicion about that in the following months.

We also have identified some designers with experiences that are very motivated to come to Curacao and help us in our pilot. The only thing is that we need and want to provide these amazing people with a bed and meals. Some restaurants allreadys offered to provide a meal or two... so we are not there yet.... however we are getting there. Earlier we had an amazing option to house everybody in the same facility in Charo, but due to a lack of funding this option now is not available anymore. That is a shame, because logistically it makes a lot of sense to have everybody located together. For the time being the house of the project leader istransfromed into a place where volunteers for this project can stay.

We have one volunteer that is now on Curacao for 3 months all the way from South Afrika to help with the preperations for the pilot. We are collecting materials, setting up partnerships and we are very dedicated to reduce wastestreams and repurpose as much of the waste that cannot be avoided.

A circular economy is the only way forward and we are going to make it happen. One way or another!

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