Phnom Penh: In a small warehouse in Cambodia's capital, a team of workers sit and make strips of waste plastic bottles, turning them into bristles for brooms, of which they produce 500 every day.
Over the previous 11 months they’ve remodeled round 40 tonnes of discarded plastic bottles – round 5,000 bottles a day – “upcycling” them into brooms that they are saying are sturdier than common brushes. They promote for 10,000 riel ($2.50) and 15,000 riel ($three.75) every.
Strips of plastic from empty bottles are collected right into a bundle in a machine, earlier than being softened in scorching water and lower uniformly to be sewn with metallic wires on the ends of a bamboo pole.
Cambodian businessman Has Kea, 41, needs to cut back plastic air pollution in his group, in a metropolis that produces as much as 38,000 tons of all forms of waste day-after-day, in accordance with its setting division. A couple of fifth of that’s single-use plastic that results in landfills and waterways. “This broom is sort of strong, it isn’t simple to interrupt,” stated Suon Kosal, a 26-year-old Buddhist monk whose temple purchased 80 brooms final month.
Kea buys empty plastic bottles from rubbish collectors and rubbish depots. With a seemingly countless provide, she is assured within the longevity of his enterprise. It’s also open for opponents to enter the market.
“This additionally helps scale back environmental air pollution and encourages folks to gather plastic bottles to promote to us at a better value, which in flip might enable them to earn a greater residing,” he stated.