The Plastic Bank — the world’s leading for-profit social enterprise that builds recycling ecosystems in under-developed communities in an effort to fight plastic pollution in seas and rivers — announced on Sunday its official participation in the ongoing UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27).
This year, the conference is running from 6 to 18 November in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.
The enterprise will represent its global ethos and solid mission through several activities and events at its distinguished booth in the Green Zone of the conference, showcasing its ideas around plastic recycling and management. The enterprise will further illustrate the way to achieve a circular economy and its implications for mitigating the effects of climate change.
Representatives from the Plastic Bank will participate in several panel discussions and side events around climate change and its impacts and challenges and will exchange ideas through different events, including a panel discussion with Okeanos, a sustainable innovation company focused on developing calcium carbonate-based solutions; SEKEM, a holistic initiative for sustainable development which integrates ecology, economy, society, and culture; and Schneider Electric, a leading provider of physical infrastructure solutions for the entire data centres, data centre solutions, and networks.
Additionally, it will be participating in HSBC and Financial Times’ event, wherein Founder and CCO of the Plastic Bank David Katz will discuss the ‘Renewal of the Financial System to Access a Zero-Carbon Economy’.
Katz will also participate in the sustainability event organised by Schneider Electric in two sessions, wherein the first session will tackle ‘Conserving Natural Resources and the Ecosystem’ and will be held on 12 November, while the second will shed light on the concept of ‘Responsible Consumption’ and will be held on 17 November.
Commenting on the Plastic Bank’s participation, Amr Al-Kady — Regional Director of Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa at the Plastic Bank said: “We are very pleased with our participation this year in the COP27, through which Egypt will be gearing up to take serious steps towards achieving sustainability and the implementation of a circular and green economy, which is in line with the state’s direction and strategy for 2030.”
“At Plastic Bank, we’re constantly working towards implementing the concept of a circular economy and raising awareness on the environmental risks stemming from poor management of plastic waste, which in turn reduces its access to seas and rivers, as it is concerned with converting plastic waste into ‘social plastic’, which is plastic that is collected and re-integrated into packaging products using technology, taking into account the environmental and social dimensions as a whole.”
Plastic Bank empowers Ocean Stewards to stop ocean plastic. It’s ethical collection communities exchange plastic for life-improving benefits. Exchanges are recorded through a block chain-secured platform that enables traceable collection, secures income, and verifies reporting. Collected material is processed into Social Plastic feedstock for reuse in products and packaging.
The COP27 kicked off in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday 6 November under the theme of ‘Implementation’ and will run until 18 November.
