Plastic Exchange Store

St. Martin, a coral wonder, a tourist attraction, choked by plastic waste. The biodiversity and marine life are under threat which in turn affects the livelihood of the natives.

Behind this looming catastrophe are three reasons. Unlike in mainland:
• There is no recycling management system
• Plastic waste has no value
and
• Natives think it is the local government’s job

To motivate the natives to actively clean up the island with a recycling system Plastic Exchange Store was introduced. A store where plastic can be exchanged for everyday essentials. Through this initiative Plastic becomes valuable. The more plastic natives collect, the more they can shop.

At launch, Bidyanondo, with its history of environmentally sustainable initiatives combined with the help of local government, ran a campaign Resulting in self-motivated natives cleaning up the island and using plastic as a currency.

Bidyanondo transports this exchanged plastic to mainland,
And sells it to plastic factories for recycling.

Then use the fund to buy more goods for the store. In turn, creating a truly sustainable model.

Plastic exchange store connected off site recycling systems to the island, the cleaning behavior of the natives was shifted positively while the confusion of whose job it was to clean up vanished completely.