Back in November 2016 I was in Morocco mentoring a Precious Plastic project at Houna Innovation Camp, satellite event of the international puppet-parade of COP22. There I first met Mohammed, Marine and the other people involved with Resourc’in. It was the early days of their journey into plastic, they had just bought an industrial shredder and finished to build the compression machine right before for the event. We actually tested it for the first time together.

First tests were dirty and crappy (😀) as you would expect for first time experiments. However, it was truly amazing to see the excitement and enthusiasm of Mohammed & friends working with the new technology. By the end of the workshop I clearly remember him going “thank you guys, since I work on Precious Plastic I see the world with different eyes. I see opportunity and resources where I once saw waste”. That’s the mentality!

A few months went by, they built the extrusion and are now fine-tuning their experiments to create innovative products with Precious Plastic. Ressourc’in is now a social enterprise for inclusion of disadvantaged people through upcycling. Mohamed is the person responsible for the plastic workshop, they collaborate with a freelance designer and 10 other people trained by Ressourc’In.

“We were looking for a solution to solve two major challenges in Marocco, youth unemployment in Casablanca and absence of recycling. And we found you on Facebook !” (bloody facebook we would add 😬). The project is funded by the Foundation Drosos and national public donor (national initiative for human development) but hope to become self-sufficient soon.

In a year from now they envision Ressourc’in selling products in concept stores in Morocco and around the world. they’re also trying to get their heads around building the injection machine.

If they progress at the same pace that I have seen in the past months I am sure they’ll hit their goals and beyond.

Keep on rocking guys!
Shukran ✋

‍