SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT | 45 Then followed a process of business incubation, project is expected to transform the country’s plastic including prototyping, masterclasses and coaching, waste into useful products, improve the air quality by leading to the launch of six brand new businesses, ending plastic burning, and reduce reliance on 昀椀rewood. serving their local communities using the local waste. Impact Hub Kathmandu is the local management Green Decision Labs and implementation partner on the P2G project, and Using discarded polypropylene plastic (PP), Green Padmakshi Rana, Executive Director and Co-Founder, is Decision Labs makes under-roof insulation wool, which very pleased with the project’s progress to date. improves thermal insulation temperature by up to 5 degrees. First, the raw materials are pelletised and “It’s been an incredible journey of learning, unlearning converted into plastic wool using a Poly昀氀oss machine, and relearning with the University of Cambridge team and then the wool is felted and compressed in a cold and the P2G entrepreneurs,” says Padmakshi. “Plastic press machine. To enhance the 昀椀re resistance of the felt, waste is an ever-growing concern in Nepal. Through the a mud-soaked cotton fabric is added on top, inspired by P2G project, we have been able to provide a platform to the traditional wall-昀椀nishing method of Nepali homes. the Nepali entrepreneurs for designing and developing Finally, the felt is rolled up for ease of transport and use. community-based innovative solutions out of plastic waste, and resilient business models.” Geodome Geodome produces easy-to-assemble disaster shelter Planting a seed units comprising a skeleton of interlocking plastic At the current stage of the project (mid-2024), with tubes and a plastic sheet to cover it. In the event of a the new businesses up and running, Curie wants to major earthquake or 昀氀ood, people may be advised to spend more time in Nepal. In previous years she has vacate their houses, even if they are safer than pre-2015 spent less than half of her time there, but things are standards. Shelter units like the Geodome can serve as changing. Many smaller day-to-day decisions need a safe temporary lodging in such cases. to be made, especially about the challenges around Scavengers and PLASTICPeople Vietnam scaling, but there are also bigger strategic questions Multi-layer plastic packaging like crisp packets can be to address about where the project is going and how hard to recycle, but Scavengers and PLASTICPeople it can inspire similar projects elsewhere. Each incubee Vietnam have found a way. Using a high-pressure hot has been awarded £800 for their activities from the press, they melt and combine the raw materials to make SMEP project, which supports activities like travelling, roo昀椀ng sheets of greater thickness than the commonly raw material purchase and company registration fees. used CGI sheets. These investments help businesses to be 昀椀nancially and environmentally sustainable. Paramendo Looking ahead, Curie and the teams are working Di昀昀erent plastics are suited to di昀昀erent purposes, to ensure that market demand will sustain the new and Paramendo has set its focus on two kinds businesses. Because the Nepali market is import- of polyethylene. They use LDPE (low-density heavy and price-sensitive, the P2G businesses have a polyethylene) to make thin roo昀椀ng repair sheets that competitive advantage over many competitors, whose can be melted onto damaged parts of roofs, and HDPE transportation costs sometimes lead to a tripling of the (high-density polyethylene) to make beautiful marbled 昀椀nal product price. This advantage, in addition to an tiles for 昀氀ooring. innovation-focused mindset, puts the new businesses in Plastic Heart a good position to meet current and future community Through the process of extrusion, Plastic Heart makes needs in lasting and sustainable ways. sturdy plastic beams for use in interiors and furniture. “P2G is about education and capacity building, and Together, the six businesses provide a set of housing many of our learnings from Nepal are transferable to products with the potential to substantially improve other locations with adverse environments. We hope living standards in Nepali communities at very low cost. that when this project comes to an end, we will have The small-scale remanufacturing units in the villages planted a seed of innovation culture that will 昀氀ourish reduce the transportation cost of housing materials that into the future,” Curie concludes. often increases the total cost threefold. Overall, the P2G