Esther Chewning
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
David Cooperrider
Keep this story going! Share below!
Plastic bags litter the streets and fields of Cambodia - posing a threat to the health and well-being of humans and livestock. It can take decades, if not longer, for a single plastic bag to decay. FunkyJunkRecycled repurposes plastic bags by partnering with local communities, whose citizens are trained to sanitize the plastic, cut it into strips, and knit it into products - bags and household goods - that are sold as fair trade products internationally.
Bags and household products made from repurposed plastic bags collected from the streets and landfills of Cambodia.
Marc Lansu and his wife, Debbie Watkins, owned and managed a social enterprise travel agency, Carpe Diem, in Cambodia, that took travellers on customized trips to social enterprises - oriented towards health, nutrition, and the environment. Everywhere they travelled with their clients, they saw plastic bags being thrown into the streets. They literally said to each other, "We need to do something about this plastic!"
They targeted a rural community where unemployment was high. Through their personal network, they met an Australian couple whose careers were in business and engineering and partnered with them to establish the first processing site.
Marc and Debbie had learned during the exploration phase of development that the citizens of the local communities did not know that how important it is to recycle plastic or that it could be recycled. Clients from their travel agency who were interested in social enterprise met with communities and explained the importance of recycling and its positive impact on society. This was an important factor in the successful development of FunkyJunkRecycled - that the communities in which they established themselves could appreciate the impact that they were making in the world by reducing waste and making a useful product.
This highlighted the important of positive engagement, that the individuals making the products felt pride in their work and understood the broader impact that they were making on their own communities and in the world.
Revenue generated from the sale of FunkyJunkReccyled products not only positively impacts the communities in which they work, but also allows them to expand into other areas around the globe. Following the success of FunkyJunkRecycled in Cambodia, expansion into other countries is planned, specifically, in Madagascar.
Over 100 people, 15 whole families, from one rural community in Cambodia benefit from the employment and income provided by FunkyJunkRecycled.
Other benefits include:
Marc Lansu is extremely passionate about the work that he and his wife, Debbie, do through the development of social enterprises. In addition to creating an opportunity to improve the lives of economically disadvantaged communities, they also seek to provide internships to university students from Holland and the US in Cambodia, to develop business experience as well as exposure to social enterprise development.
Get stories of positive business innovations from around the world delivered right to your inbox.
