Wildplastic
Must knows
Impact enterprise – Hamburg - 2019 - Scale-up - 15 Mio. € Turnover (2023) - 16 Employees (2023)
Golden share model
3 funding rounds, aligned on steward-ownership
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.
"Wildplastic fights for a plastic-free planet. Its mission: to save wild plastic and bring it back into the production cycle to reduce pollution and create a better world for future generations."
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.
"We are wild! Wild about making products for a better world, instead of just worrying about it. Wild about solving one of today’s biggest problems, instead of just talking about it. Wild about seeing waste not only as waste, but as a material that inspires us to build."
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.
"Wildplastic has been a steward-owned company from the start - to save our mission and to create transparency and trust for our employees, partners, and consumers."
Nadia Boegli, CEO and co-founder
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.
Read more about the case of Wildplastic,
Case study by Purpose Foundation.
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