Circulating waste, one ton at a time.
Plasticity. transforms waste materials into functional up-cycled products that add value to people’s everyday life. They have, as of today, saved 4 tons of plastic from going to landfills. Meet Tessa, a hard-working and self-taught circular economy entrepreneur.
Plasticity. gets waste from local recyclers, 1 ton at a time, but also from donations from people & companies (grocery bags, retail waste, industrial waste). Plasticity has already secured partnerships with L’Occitane, Polo, Montego, Volvo. They use their waste (packaging excess, bags, etc.) to create fashion items that those companies can use as corporate gifting.
Tessa O'Halloran
Founder OF PLASTICITY. - SOUTH AFRICA
Since 2017, Plasticity re-imagined waste materials and transformed them into functional everyday, up-cycled products that add value to your life.
Plasticity is based in the Eastern Cape, the province with the highest rate of unemployment, currently sitting at 47.1%, in the country with the highest level of unemployment in the world. “I believe we are uniquely positioned to make an impact in the Eastern Cape by creating opportunities for skills-based training, supporting local plastic recyclers and giving second chances.”
I see waste materials differently. I believe waste is too valuable a resource to waste.
As of today, we have ordered 4 tons of plastics from local recyclers. It is 4 tons of plastics out of landfills.
Landfills in Cape Town are almost full. We will have a waste crisis in the next 5-10 years and I’m trying to change that.”
Plasticity team
Hasmitha Rangaswamy
MSc Management & Digital Business
IE Business School, Spain
Vishwa Bhatt
BSc Political Science & Data Science
American University, US
Insights into the H-Accelerator
Through the H-Accelerator, Tessa sets out to improve her marketing & export strategy. Within the program, the team has worked on identifying customers in international markets as well as working on the messaging and unique selling point. They address eco-friendly customers that want high-quality and long-lasting products.
Those markets have stricter policies that make it quite complicated to use waste materials as material inputs. Some companies in the past have been sued or prejudiced because some of their materials contained materials seen as toxic.
Tessa O'Halloran
Founder OF PLASTICITY. - SOUTH AFRICA
A story of persistence
In its process to scale, Plasticity faces daily challenges that never scared them. Tessa told us that they “were thinking about buying a heat press to reduce the time it takes to create” their products. Currently, all the products are completely hand-made. Buying a press would cut costs, but it would mean to reduce the freedom that they have in creating products. Right now, they create products that people need in their every day life, and create new products every week.
Sometimes, South Africa runs out of electricity. Electricity breaks are planned and communicated in advance but still, Plasticity’s production can be affected for up to 4 hours per day.
Next years will be extremely exciting. To export products, Plasticity will need to have a better understanding of the life cycle of the materials that they use. Another challenges will be to retain customers and finding new stockists across the globe. We advise you to follow her progress on her website or her very-active instagram page.
Hasmitha Rangaswamy
STUDENT TEAM OF PLASTICITY
