Bali (Indonesia) received a lot of negative press in recent years regarding the plastic litter. This issue, we meet with PT Enviro Pallets, a pallet manufacturer Nestled made entirely from recycled plastic waste that would have ended up in landfills. We meet the Director General, Lars Armstrup, find out more about where the innovative company sources of waste plastic, the manufacturing process, and their values environmentally conscious.
Enviro Pallets was founded by Matthew Darby in New Zealand - when and for what reason was the open plastic recycling plant in Bali
Lars Armstrup, CEO of PT Enviro Pallets
We started in 2012, the movement of equipment in front of the old factory in Christchurch, New Zealand. During visits to Indonesia, Matthew saw a very significant problem of plastic waste in the country, and discussions with the National Investment Agency highlighted additional issues surrounding it in Bali. A strong local commitment to solutions to help solve the problem of plastic waste, and keep Bali Clean, ultimately led to the decision to set up our first Asian factory here.
What you excited to come on board?
After working for 30 years in the logistics and industrial manufacturing in six Asian countries, I am intimately aware of the challenges around raw material requirements to maintain the supply chains moving in particular the high demand for wood for pallets for the transportation of finished products.
Global estimates indicate that more than 40 percent of the world's lumber is used to produce wood pallets. Our unique technology Thermo Fusion ™ allows us to use recycled plastics other will not, thus benefiting from low cost to raw materials, making our plastic pallets direct competition with wooden pallets, the same price.
We truly believe that we will present a real alternative to the use of wood, and the infinite reuse of plastics, again and again. We not only use 100 percent recycled plastic, but our products are themselves 100 percent recyclable, which allows us to use the same first plastic material repeatedly.
Can you give us a brief explanation of the production process Thermo Fusion ™?
We mixed plastics, shredded and then subjected to heat and pressure, the polymers of different types of binding mechanically plastics. This results in a malleable plastic under high pressure is formed in the finished product of a pallet.
The uniqueness of our equipment is that we are able to use mixed plastics of all types in a combined process. This is different from what normally happens in the recycling of plastics. Normally, polymers have to be separated, for example to contain only PET or HDPE only, which is then granulated and mixed with virgin plastics for injection molding processes.
How many tons of plastic do you treat a day
We just started our second production line, and we can now treat more than 600 plastic MTS per month? - Most of which would have gone to landfill.
How do you collect waste plastic used to make your pallets?
We are working with recyclers in Bali, which provide stable volumes of plastic for us. We have programs with the Bali government departments sanitation, gardening and the Environment recently introduced, which allows us to work directly with nine regencies of the island and their sub-districts. Two of them are now our active suppliers of recycled plastics, and we continue to cooperate with the rest, until we have covered all during 2016. Supplies also come from schools and retail branded stores, where we engage with them on campus and in stores to facilitate their efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle.
How much do you pay per kilogram of plastic waste that people bring you?
First, we want to clean plastic and dry. means own non plastic-free such as cardboard, paper, glass, aluminum foil, etc. We can deal with degrees of these variables in the process, but we run the most effective when they are not present. But for the types of plastic themselves, we do not distinguish between different types of polymers, as we easily mix them together in our process.
Our price starts Rp.1,200 per kg of plastic and increases with the cleanliness and dryness of plastic we receive. Be prepared to pay for something that people normally throw away is having a positive impact in the communities we work with.
Besides the fact that they are created from plastic waste, what is your special pallets?
There are literally hundreds of different pallet sizes and features current use around the world - our process allows us to produce all. The plastic is stronger than wood, and therefore provides better performance over time compared to wood. Although our pallets will eventually break, the difference with the wood that is damaged wooden pallet has a very limited use at the end of his short life. Wood pallets are either burned (for energy), ground up (for the purpose of mulching), or in most cases transferred to rot. Because our process uses 100 percent recycled plastic, we simply take back damaged pallets, crush them and run them through our production process again, to be reborn as new pallets.
Please tell us about your expansion plans, particularly in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
We have important ambitions on both a national and global basis. We do not expect to develop in Java and beyond in the very near future.
Bye Bye Plastic bags were given an MoU by the provincial government in Bali to stop giving away free plastic bags in 2016 and prohibition of plastic bags all completely in 2018. How will this affect production at your plant?
Melati and Isabel, who founded Bye Bye Plastic bags are an inspiration - amazing girls. I met recently and the ban on plastic bags is definitely the way to go. I believe that other cities around Indonesia working on similar projects. Unfortunately, the global plastic production continues to increase at about four percent per year, and the sad fact is that even if all the plastic bags were banned, it would still only be a small reduction in . production plastics. There are so many new plastic being made every day.
We can not operate like a world without plastic, but through what we do, we believe we are helping to move us to a point of 'no new plastic being used in the world "as we can infinitely recycled again the same plastic and again, even if they are all mixed.
As the CEO of a company that actively contributes to a cleaner world, you must be extremely passionate about what you do. What ethics you hold dear to your heart work would you like other business owners embody?
I love what we do. Few people have the opportunity to lead a company that truly has the potential to change the world in the segment, and in this regard our team and I are very happy. I'm not sure I necessarily different from other entrepreneurs, but I'm fueled by passion -. Because I think that's the only way to achieve excellence
My work ethic is a real sense of purpose, strong determination and concentration, which allow you to work through the challenges inevitable and roadblocks that are always present in business. Ultimately, "Deliver The Promise." What we promise our customers, all my colleagues, our suppliers and our communities is vital, as this is the only way we can ensure the long-term viability as environmentally and for ourselves as a company.
Thank you, Lars. To get in touch, email: marketing@enviropallets.com