Apia, Samoa – A new partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and CRDC Global, a Costa Rica-based company, will address the growing problem of plastic pollution in Samoa. The partnership aims to bring an end-to-end circular solution for plastic waste, focusing on education and the collection, upcycling, and repurposing of plastic waste into building products, leveraging CRDC Global’s proprietary technology to produce RESIN8™ out of hard to recycle plastic waste.

This is part of UNDP’s Circular Economy for the Recovery of Waste Programme for Samoa and Tokelau, known simply as the CERO Waste Project .

The first phase of the partnership project will focus on educating children and youth from more than 30 schools within the Apia urban area to build environmental awareness and understanding of resource circularity. Through a plastic recovery programme called ‘The Bag That Builds’, students will drive the segregation of household plastic waste to prevent landfilling and leakage into the environment.  This first phase of the project will be co-funded by the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).  The second phase of the project will include a new RESIN8™ plant that will turn hard to recycle plastics into eco-aggregate for use in local concrete production.

“The modular nature of CRDC’s plastic waste solution is perfect for small island states such as Samoa. To truly solve the plastic waste problem, we need a collaborative zero-waste solution that involves everyone in the plastics value chain. As such, we need to look beyond short-term solutions like increasing capacity at landfills and focus on education, collection, and upcycling of plastic waste, in full alignment with the priorities of the government,” said Mr. Jorn Sorensen, Resident Representative of UNDP in Samoa.

CRDC Global is an upcycling company that specializes in turning any type of plastic waste into value added construction material. At the core of CRDC’s value proposition is a patented low-carbon process that accepts any type of plastic waste (1-7) and converts it into a range of concrete additives and eco-aggregates marketed and produced under the RESIN8™ name.   These versatile construction products meet or exceed internationally accepted ASTM standards and can be used in a wide variety of buildings.

“We’re really excited to partner with UNDP Samoa and appreciate their commitment to eliminate difficult to recycle plastic waste from the environment.  Since the beginning, they’ve been extremely collaborative and have opened doors to many different stakeholders. Moreover, UNDP’s ongoing commitment to finding lasting, sustainable solutions, which are regenerative and focus on the collection of plastic all the way to its eventual use in social housing, are totally in line with our vision,” said Donald Thomson, Chairman and CEO of CRDC Global.  

ABOUT CRDC GLOBAL

CRDC Global is a disruptive building materials company that creates appreciating value from the world’s plastic waste. Founded in 2018, the company has rapidly scaled operations from Costa Rica to the USA, South Africa, UK, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Samoa. The ‘Bag That Builds” is CRDC’s innovative plastic waste recovery programme that is being piloted in four countries and takes any type of plastic waste from households. CRDC Global works with leading waste management and construction industry companies around the world, and partners with international organizations like Habitat for Humanity, UNDP, and The Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

-ENDS-

For media queries, please contact:

Laufaleaina Lesa, Communications Analyst, UNDP Multi Country Office, Samoa | Ph. +685 23670 | E: laufaleaina.lesa@undp.org | www.ws.undp.org

Sebastian Van der Vegt, Global Communications Director, CRDC  
E: sebastian@crdc.global |  www.crdc.global