Social fintech firm Plastic Bank believes solving plastic pollution, poverty go hand in hand

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Since Plastic Bank began operations 11 years ago, the company has collected 8.1 billion bottles

MANILA, Philippines – When Plastic Bank founder and chief executive officer David Katz visited Ocean Park Manila in 2013, he saw what he described as “absolute devastation” of plastic trash at the bottom of the clear waters.

“We learned later that the majority of what was under the ocean originated from areas of poverty,” he said.

This led Katz and his colleague Shaun Frankson to establish Plastic Bank, a social fintech firm that aims to allow the world’s poorest communities into income by digitalizing the collection process.

Using its mobile app, the company tracks every transaction — from the moment a plastic bottle is dropped off by a collector, to its sale as recycled “social plastic” to multinational buyers like Acer and American contact lenses firm CooperVision.

Once a collector drops off their plastic to an aggregator, they are then processed into alternative packaging, as well as user toolkits that multinational companies can use at their consumer touchpoints.

The Plastic Bank app is also connected to GCash, allowing collectors to immediately access their funds.

In some cases, the app also functions like a digital bank. Collectors can take no-interest loans that can be repaid through future waste deposits.

“We don’t even look at it (plastic) as waste. We look at it as gold,” Katz said.

According to Plastic Bank’s Philippine country manager and vice president for the Asia-Pacific Rene Guarin, collectors can receive around P10 to P15 per kilogram of plastic, depending on the type of material being deposited.

Since Plastic Bank began operations 11 years ago, the company has collected 8.1 billion bottles. There are currently nearly 23,000 Plastic Bank app users bringing plastic waste to 200 collection points in the Philippines and 4 processors in their network.

When asked about the Plastic Bank’s impact on Filipino communities, Guarin recalls a Valenzuela-based couple who were able to send their children to school and save up for retirement through their earnings.

Beyond providing a source of income, Katz said the company also provides collectors with social benefits such as healthcare and groceries.

“It’s not really (about) being rich. It’s about feeling safe,” he said.

Environmental compliance

Aside from providing waste pickers a stable source of income, Katz and Guarin said that Plastic Bank helps companies comply with environmental compliance requirements under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022.

Under the law, companies are required to reduce plastic pollution by converting a certain percentage of their carbon footprint into credits. This can be done by either redesigning the packaging to become more sustainable or by reducing waste in the environment.

As of December 31, 2024, companies are required to recover 40% of their carbon footprint.

But Katz and Guarin admit that several factors hinder compliance. Katz said that compliance may become tricky once firms are required to recover 60% of their footprint.

The EPR Act mandates a firm to recover 80% of its carbon footprint by 2028.

“I think that a good combination of recovery and using recycled materials would allow companies to meet that 80% requirement. So it’s not totally just collection,” Katz explained.

Processing capacity also remains low in the Philippines, with just around 9% of the Philippines’ 2.15 million metric tons of plastic recycled.

Katz called for additional investments in the recycling industry to boost the Philippines’ recycling capacity, especially in the provinces.

“The main constraint is ‘how do I bring this to recyclers if they’re far’? And if there are no bailing machines or crushers, the cost of transport is really higher than the market value,” he explained.  – Rappler.com

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