Boy Candra was helping his colleague pull a PVC pipe out of a vacuum cooler when the secondhand machine hit a snag on an afternoon at the end of January. Fifty-three-year-old Boy is an entrepreneur whose business is centered on plastic waste. He has a PVC pipe factory, which uses old and used pipe waste as material, in Bantul, Yogyakarta. “I buy the material from 10 plastic waste collectors,” Boy said. After sorting, the plastic waste is ground and then milled into powder for the production of PVC pipes. Boy said his business served as a minor contribution to the problem of plastic waste that is hard to break down and mostly ends up in the ocean, killing marine life who ingest or become entangled in it.plastic-pollution.org quotes global industry analysts stating that global plastic consumption has been increasing, with 297.5 million tons produced in 2015. Boy is upcycling by turning plastic waste into a new product that is more useful and lasts for a longer amount of time. Upcycling strives to achieve zero plastic waste, which distinguishes it from ordinary recycling that mixes plastic waste with other materials for conversion into a new product that lasts only for a short period. “If plastic waste is processed into a new product by combining it with other materials, it will be difficult to recycle it when it becomes waste again, as it is difficult to extract nonplastic materials,” he said. After reflecting at Ganjuran Catholic Church, he found a new vocation… [Read full story]
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