SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT | 44 SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT | 45 “We don’t want to give people fish: we want to learn they made plans for two competitive MAKEathons to the opportunity to receive training. often increases the total cost threefold. Overall, the P2G how to fish together. We are trying to encourage take place at FabLab Nepal. The task for participating Then followed a process of business incubation, project is expected to transform the country’s plastic innovative thinking, but innovation tends to come entrepreneurs: develop a product using existing including prototyping, masterclasses and coaching, waste into useful products, improve the air quality by from a place of dissatisfaction. We don’t want to technology to transform plastic waste into durable leading to the launch of six brand new businesses, ending plastic burning, and reduce reliance on firewood. make people feel dissatisfied, but rather to see that housing products for Nepali homes.serving their local communities using the local waste. with simple means, they can help themselves, their Impact Hub Kathmandu is the local management communities and the environment,” she adds.Contestants, a mix of local and international Green Decision Labsand implementation partner on the P2G project, and entrepreneurs, were encouraged to assess their ideas Using discarded polypropylene plastic (PP), Green Padmakshi Rana, Executive Director and Co-Founder, is From new ideas to local businessesagainst three criteria. First, they had to ensure that the Decision Labs makes under-roof insulation wool, which very pleased with the project’s progress to date. Each project in the Sustainable Manufacturing and logistics of creating their chosen product would be improves thermal insulation temperature by up to 5 Environmental Pollution Programme (SMEP) seeks to manageable. That meant thinking about how to source degrees. First, the raw materials are pelletised and “It’s been an incredible journey of learning, unlearning identify profitable, scalable and sustainable uses of the plastic, to ensure that the equipment needed for converted into plastic wool using a Polyfloss machine, and relearning with the University of Cambridge team environmental pollutants, tailored to the cultural and production was available, and that there would be a and then the wool is felted and compressed in a cold and the P2G entrepreneurs,” says Padmakshi. “Plastic economic context. In Nepal, that means using plastic market for the finished product. Second, they were press machine. To enhance the fire resistance of the felt, waste is an ever-growing concern in Nepal. Through the waste to create durable and practical building materials asked to think about durability to ensure a long-lasting a mud-soaked cotton fabric is added on top, inspired by P2G project, we have been able to provide a platform to to lift the local standard of living, while limiting the second life for the plastic. And, third, they had to the traditional wall-finishing method of Nepali homes. the Nepali entrepreneurs for designing and developing environmental damage of plastic burning and littering. consider the extent to which the product would meet Finally, the felt is rolled up for ease of transport and use.community-based innovative solutions out of plastic an existing critical need in their local community. A waste, and resilient business models.” In the very first stage of the project, Curie focused on total of 26 local and global participants attended the Geodome building her network of collaborators and was glad first MAKEathon, which resulted in seven open-source Geodome produces easy-to-assemble disaster shelter Planting a seed to find a lot of interest in participating. Once it was innovations and three winners, who went on to receive units comprising a skeleton of interlocking plastic At the current stage of the project (mid-2024), with established that the project had potential, the team had systematic start-up training. In the second MAKEathon, tubes and a plastic sheet to cover it. In the event of a the new businesses up and running, Curie wants to plastic-processing machines imported and installed, and 44 local participants from across Nepal attended, and major earthquake or flood, people may be advised to spend more time in Nepal. In previous years she has out of 6 contestants another 3 winners were awarded 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 Innovation tools, expert talks, mentoring and prototyping support were provided to the MAKEathon at FabLab Nepalscaling, but there are also bigger strategic questions Scavengers and PLASTICPeople Vietnam to address about where the project is going and how Multi-layer plastic packaging like crisp packets can be it can inspire similar projects elsewhere. Each incubee hard to recycle, but Scavengers and PLASTICPeople has been awarded £800 for their activities from the Vietnam have found a way. Using a high-pressure hot SMEP project, which supports activities like travelling, press, they melt and combine the raw materials to make raw material purchase and company registration fees. roofing sheets of greater thickness than the commonly These investments help businesses to be financially and used CGI sheets. environmentally sustainable. Paramendo Looking ahead, Curie and the teams are working Dierent plastics are suited to dierent 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 roofing 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 final product price. This advantage, in addition to an tiles for flooring. innovation-focused mindset, puts the new businesses in a good position to meet current and future community Plastic Heart needs in lasting and sustainable ways. Through the process of extrusion, Plastic Heart makes 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 flourish reduce the transportation cost of housing materials that into the future,” Curie concludes.