“Plastic waste is suffocating our oceans and our planet. Every year we add 300 million ton of plastic waste to the pile we already have. Less than 10% is recycled or re-used. The rest is burned, landfilled or ends up in the environment or our oceans.” Jan Jaap Folmer Chief Upp! and OUTNR.org member.
Upp! saves plastic waste from incineration or ending up in the environment or oceans. We use your plastic waste to make durable and 100% recyclable products for you. If you don’t need them anymore, we can re-use or recycle again. So the plastic waste we use, never need to be waste again.
Upp! started in Vietnam just over a year ago. In Vietnam we are now setting up the first pilot/demo projects to use local plastic waste to make 100% recyclable planks & poles to be used in Vietnam too. We’re working with a project developer in Hanoi to use plastic waste to make planks and poles to be used in a new-to-be-build residential area (EcoPark Hanoi), with a waste management company on a project to pilot collection of separated waste in Ho Chi Minh City (we use the collected plastic waste to make outdoor furniture) and with a marina in Nha Trang to become plastic free and use construction material made from locally collected plastic waste. In the Mekong Delta we are working with universities/research institutions, ngo’s and the local governments to catch plastic waste from the mighty Mekong River. The sorted plastic waste we then will use to make floating ‘planters’ in order to build a floating park in Can Tho City. Almost a copy of (and in collaboration with) Recycled Park in Rotterdam. We have made our first planks & poles from local plastic waste recently (it works!), so we’re also looking for more pilot projects.
From the beginning of this year Upp! is active in the Netherlands as well. We were triggered by the City of Almere wanting to become a zero waste city, inviting entrepreneurs to make suggestion for (plastic) resource recovery from the municipal (post-consumer) waste. Upp! knows solutions for this and we are now tendering to set up a plastic factory to process plastic waste from Almere. At the same time we have to develop the market. We are working on pilot/demo projects to show we can close the plastic waste loop in the Netherlands too. To avoid our plastic waste to be shipped to China, Vietnam or Malaysia. To avoid our plastic waste to be burned/incinerated and causing CO2 and air-pollution. To avoid our plastic waste to end up in the environment and our oceans. To make us aware we have to clean up our own mess in Europe too!
Currently we are working to set up a demo-project together with some municipalities to make outdoor (and terrorism-proof) furniture (benches, planters, ..) from local plastic waste. To show it works. We are also working on the design of a composting bin for households/communities using local plastic waste. And we want to do something with the fishing port of Den Oever to make furniture from the plastic waste landed by the Fishing Fleet of Urk. Many other opportunities have been identified and the target is to complete at least 4 demo projects using 50 tonnes of plastic waste before the end of the year.
In 2025 Upp! wants to save 250.000 tonnes of plastic waste from incineration, landfill or the environment and oceans annually. We want to do this in at least 10 different countries and we want to be involved in over 100 zero-waste cities. Ambitious? Sure. Necessary? Absolutely. And possible? With your support we will make it work.
Upp! Together we make our world Cleaner & Greener.
Jan Jaap Folmer Chief Upp! and OUTNR.org member