Braskem signs a partnership with Coletando to expand plastic waste recycling

Companies join forces to engage the population in the adequate disposal of residues; They expect to collect 30 tons of recyclable plastic materials per  month.

Seeking to reach its plastic waste elimination goals, as well as promote the circular economy model and the population’s awareness of the importance of recycling, Braskem has joined forces with the startup Coletando in an initiative that aims to expand the conscious and appropriate disposal of plastic products.

The partnership is part of the startup’s project, which works on banking inclusion by means of waste collection in mobile eco-points -with a tricycle-, fixed- installed in establishments such as supermarkets, malls, etc.-and intelligent -located in condominiums- in 17 cities in four states – SP, RJ, MG, and BA. In these units, everyone can dispose of post-consumption materials made of plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminum, among others, in exchange for purchase credits.

The action works on a cashback system: people take their sanitized post-consumption packaging to the collection points -or deliver it to the circulating mobile points- and exchange it for credits available on a card, provided directly at the eco-point. With this card, it will be possible to make purchases at local establishments, such as markets, drug stores, and bakeries.

The residues collected will be destined to one of the 25 partner cooperatives, which will send the materials for recycling. The plastic items -polyethylene and polypropylene- will be directed to Braskem, which will recycle these articles in its mechanical recycling unit, operated by Valoren, in Indaiatuba, countryside of São Paulo, making them return to the chain as post-consumption recycled resin for the transformation industry to produce new products, thus closing the Circular Economy cycle.

“Besides reinforcing our social-environmental commitments, we invite the population to help us in this action that aims at to promote post-consumption waste recycling, so necessary nowadays,” says Fabiana Quiroga, director of Circular Economy at Braskem in South America. “Braskem’s partnership with Coletando is yet another initiative that unites the members of the productive chain, and shows the importance of the engagement of various actors in society for the promotion and materialization of the circular economy,” she highlights.

Fabiana explains that the project is aligned with the goals announced by Braskem to contribute to the elimination of plastic waste. In this sense, the company intends to expand its portfolio to include 300,000 tons of products with recycled content by 2025 and 1 million tons by 2030. Also, by 2030, the company will work to prevent 1.5 million tons of plastic waste from being sent to incineration, landfills, or dumped into the environment.

For Saulo Ricci, founder and CEO of Coletando, “more than fostering social and environmental awareness among the population, the project’s idea is to reach locations farther away from major urban centers, also generating a positive social impact from the exchange of recyclable waste for credits for consumers, and generating income for the collectors and recyclers,” he highlights. “With Braskem’s partnership we will be able to enhance the initiative’s purposes related to sustainability and local economic development.

As of 2019, the project as a whole has already generated more than R$ 500 thousand in income for the population, benefited 4.2 thousand users and collected more than 3 million packages -of various types and materials-. Coletando was one of the companies selected for Braskem Labs 2021, startup acceleration program that fosters the creation of innovative solutions capable of generating positive social-environmental impact, in the Scale modality, aimed at those already in the traction or scale phase.

How to participate

The consumers interested in disposing of their recyclable waste through Coletando and obtaining credits for this action, as a first step, they need to register on Coletando website. Then, they must deliver the recyclable materials to one of the stations, taking them already clean and, preferably, separated by category -plastic, glass, metal, etc.. At the stations, the materials will be weighed and, according to the weight verified, the corresponding credits will be available on a card for purchases at local stores.