Wildplastic

Protecting its ownership while cleaning up the planet

Wildplastic was founded in 2019 with the goal to clean the environment from plastic waste. In cooperation with communities of collectors, the start-up works globally to collect wild plastic from beaches, landfills, and illegal dumpsites. In spring 2019, Wildplastic started selling the first trash bag that is 100% made of recycled plastic.

In 2019, Wildplastic started producing and selling trash bags made from 100% recycled and wild plastic. Working with certified organizations, NGOs, and communities of collectors, wild plastic is collected from beaches, landfills, and illegal dumpsites in countries lacking a recycling infrastructure. Collectors in countries such as Haiti, Malaysia, and India receive fair wages, combining environmental conservation with economic development.

Germany alone produces up to 21 million tons of plastic a year. Only 20% of it is being recycled and more than 80% of the plastic produced is made of virgin plastic. Plastic pollution is everywhere. About 5 billion tons of plastic are spread worldwide and can be found in the environment, lakes, and oceans. The task of cleaning the planet from plastic is monumental and requires all the help it can get. Wildplastic has taken on the challenge and has declared the company’s goal to free the environment from plastic waste.

Conventional production processes were reliant on the addition of virgin plastic to create new plastic products. Wildplastic has developed a new solution: a process that creates new plastic products from 100% recycled and wild plastic. Bright colors and unusual prints make Wildplastic trash bags a real eye-catcher and add to successful marketing. Next in line is the plastic packaging used by other companies.

The company’s mission is not to produce trash bags or plastic packaging. Instead, Wildplastic seeks to clean up the planet. To guard this mission, Wildplastic was founded as a steward-owned company. Opting for the golden-share model of steward-ownership, 1% of Wildplastics voting shares is held by the Purpose Foundation to protect its ownership and financing structure. As a financing partner, Purpose Ventures provided non-extractive, mission-aligned growth capital to help the business grow.