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Spinning plastic bottles into brooms in Cambodia
STORY: This small warehouse in Cambodia is transforming trash into cleaning tools.(Locator: Phnom Penh, Cambodia)Workers there are spinning tons of plastic bottles into bristles for brooms.Since March 2023, they have upcycled around 40 tons of discarded plastic bottles.The plastic strips spun from the empty bottles are bundled on a machine, soaked in hot water to soften them, sliced into strips, and sewn onto bamboo sticks with metal wires.Running this small operation is 41-year-old Cambodian entrepreneur Has Kea.He has made it his mission to reduce plastic pollution in his community.(Has Kea, Cambodian entrepreneur)“So far, we have gone through about 40 tons of plastic bottles. So, it’s quite a large amount of recycling that has gone into the broomsticks, which are very durable and can be used for a long time. The buyers are excited, and we as the manufacturer are also happy and its beneficial to the society, who are supporting us too. It also helps reduce pollution in the environment and encourages people to collect plastic bottles to sell to us at a higher price, which in turn, could earn them a better living.”In 2010, Kea briefly worked as a conventional broomstick seller and recognized the high demand for quality brooms, which are mainly imported from Thailand and Vietnam. Kea’s big idea came when he realized raw materials are cheaper at home, both the bamboo and the bottles.“Plastic bottles are more expensive overseas and they were up-cycling them. I learned that the bottles here are cheaper, together with the cost of other raw material (bamboo sticks) and the cost of labor, so I decided to make them by just designing the shape of a nice-looking broomstick.”According to Cambodia’s environment ministry, up to a fifth of the waste in capital Phnom Penh is plastic.Single-use plastics like bags, straws and bottles are the main culprits clogging up landfills and waterways.(Keat Rangsey, Chairman, Phnom Penh Environmental Administration)”There are about 35,000 to 38,000 tons of trash generated per day (in Phnom Penh). This is a huge amount of garbage consumption from about 3 million people in the city, which means one person produces about 2.6 pounds (of trash, per day).”Kea’s team churns out around 500 plastic broomsticks every day.With what seems like an endless supply of plastic, he says he doesn’t see business drying up soon.He also says he’s open to competition in the hopes of encouraging others to sweep away more of Cambodia’s surging pollution.
