Finnish expertise stems the plastic tide

The Finnish company has opened mechanical recycling facilities with an annual capacity of 1 000 tonnes and launched land-based plastic collection in the two countries.

The facilities can be scaled up to meet the regional demand for recycling capacity. According to the company, this represents the "largest river plastic recycling operation in the world".

The expansion sees RiverRecycle take a key step into what it called the “full-circle” phase of operations and take command of the entire value chain – from the cleaning and mechanical recycling of plastic waste floating in rivers to land-based collection to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers in the first place.

The company recently took another step in its mission to repurpose low-value, hard-to-recycle plastic waste at large scale with the launch of building boards to demonstrate a practical and impactful application for such plastics.

“We are now able to offer people and companies a means of cleaning up their environment simply by the choice of products they choose,” stated Anssi Mikola, CEO of RiverRecycle. "By opting for products crafted from recycled river-collected plastics, businesses and consumers take a step towards a cleaner future."

The company is currently fighting plastic waste in rivers in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The future is green

Finnish expertise elsewhere is also tackling the broader issue of managing plastic waste. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has led numerous related projects. It has explored the possibilities to capture and recycle the abundant plastic fractions found in mixed municipal waste and researched ways to break down plastic waste into biodegradable materials with microbes.

Striving for a plastic-free future is also front and centre for numerous local companies seeking to gain popularity for solutions such as cosmetics packaging and sustainable carry bags.