Koen, founder of @faro360 a non-profit organisation based in Belgium that recently run a Precious Plastic project in Kaolack, Senegal. The idea was born when Koen realised the huge amount of plastic waste during his travels around West Africa in 2015.  

There are up to 3 billion people living with limited access to proper waste management. Their waste is not being disposed properly, or not being collected at all. This results in a lot of open dumping and burning, with serious impact on public health, the environment, and the economy.

Faro 360 envisions a world where all municipal solid waste is being collected and processed in a truly circular economy, with fair conditions for all people involved.

“We focus on three aspects:

(1) Provide tools (micro factories) to local partners valorising waste streams;

(2) Provide training about waste management, awareness campaigns and clean up actions;

(3) Create a global network for partners to collaborate and exchange.”, said Koen.

Koen first heard about Precious Plastic was two years ago. It seemed the perfect concept for Faro360. Precious Plastic is now part of their plan and is one of the corner stones for Faro360. (Great 😎)

They built a shredder, a compression and an extrusion during summer 2016. Oh, they also showcased the machines at Pukkelpop, which is one of the largest music festivals in Belgium- pretty badass!

While working with their project in Senegal they face quite some challenges. Besides the limited access to necessary tools, they also found out that it’s very hard to have local materials and resources at a reasonable price. “This is a difficulty that we’ll definitely look into and try to reassess our model after our first project.”

They are currently experimenting with different products such as tree protection coils, chairs and sofas, school supplies and etc.

Faro360’s goal is to use this open source technology to build micro factories for plastic recycling. It’s an ambitious one but they are looking forward to move ahead! In one year time, they would like to run and sustain their current project while starting 3 – 5 more new projects!

Faro360 is mostly self-funded even though the first prototype was supported by Act4Change, and some other non-profit groups in Belgium.

“We also end up on top 10 clean tech business ideas in ClimateLaunchpad, with a plan to turn Faro360 into self-sustaining NPO rather than subsidy based NPO. This gave us access to the Climate-KIC accelerator, including a 10k grant.”
Boom- well done on you guys! 🎉

There’s a message which Faro360 would like to bring to the community.

“First and foremost I want to say thanks for what a great community this is, and we’re happy and proud to be part of it. The forum is a great source of inspiration, motivation and help. We love Precious Plastic, and we hope to be able to contribute to the community as much as we’re getting from it. The concept is great, but we feel there are some flaws in it that prevent it from being spread to more people in low income countries. It’s exactly what we want to help with, to figure out a way to get more people to start using it.”
Check them out on their website or their facebook for more updates!

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