Circular Solutions for Plastic Pollution: Technology-enabled Reusable Packaging

Of the 8 million tons of plastics that enter the oceans every year, 600,000 tons are estimated to come from Indonesia. Dubbed a “sachet economy” alongside its neighbours such as the Philippines, and with similar topography and socioeconomic conditions, the country’s oceans are saturated with these uncollectable, unrecyclable, contaminated and valueless little packets. Designed to help keep products fresh, the sachets are made up of a complex multilayer of polymers, aluminium and films, making them near impossible to recycle. Despite some grass-roots initiatives, the bulk of the sachet waste is dumped in overflowing landfills, sent to incineration, or left to contaminate waterways, shorelines and oceans. To address this problem, sachets need to be removed from the packaging system. Koinpack offers a reusable and returnable packaging solution based on a deposit and reward model for consumer goods to replace disposable sachets. Koinpack’s reuse system aims to shift the traditional linear business model to a circular business model and prevents single-use plastic at the source.