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Hong Kong-based sustainable materials firms eyeing plastic waste reduction in city struggle to scale up
- Capital investment is a major challenge, as we need to maintain at least three months of inventory for a scalable business, co-founder of upcycler weplastic says
- Biodegradable resin costs at least twice as much as conventional plastic resin: FMC Manufacturing executive
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Two sustainable materials firms in Hong Kong want to contribute to the city’s efforts towards reducing its fossil fuel-based plastic waste, but face challenges in scaling up their business models.
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Weplastic was set up earlier this year with a mission to reduce the waste sent to landfill in Hong Kong by creating value and giving the collected plastic a second life, according to co-founder Isaac Ma.
“People in Hong Kong treat plastic [trash] as waste, but to us it is not waste,” Ma said in an interview. “It is treasure.”
At its compounding facility in Hong Kong, weplastic has the capacity to recycle 200 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) flakes per month, or around 10 to 12 40- feet containers, into rPET granules. These can then be upcycled into different products sold to final buyers.
The processed granules can also be sold through the firm’s existing sales channels in markets globally.
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In Hong Kong, 2,331 tonnes of plastic waste were sent to landfill each day in 2021, accounting for the second-largest share of the city’s municipal solid waste at 20.5 per cent, according to the Environmental Protection Department.
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