Recycling Alliance for Ocean Plastic

The Indonesian organization RIO Oceans Integrity and the German company ASCON Resource Management Holding GmbH have signed a long-term recycling contract on October 1, 2022. The cooperation includes the recycling of plastics collected worldwide from rivers, beaches and oceans in a circular economy based on a socially responsible and efficient operational model.

The aim is to establish recycling operations that are as regional as possible in order to keep the added value in the respective countries. This is the basis for using recycling to reduce poverty in many countries by establishing local, economically successful recycling companies. It is precisely the integration into a global secondary raw materials market that underscores the importance of community recycling activities.

“The German and European discussions about the recyclability of packaging to the respective legal quota fulfillment to chemical recycling does not get a plastic bottle out of the ocean”, Sascha Schuh, CEO of ASCON Resource Management Holding, who outlined his company’s motives for the cooperation. “We want and have to face the global challenge to prevent the fact that still more and more plastic waste is carried via rivers into the oceans. Achieving this by recycling in the respective countries is our joint mission with RIO,” Schuh explained as the basis for the cooperation.

Kieran Kelly, Chairman of RIO Oceans Integrity, emphasized that recycling in particular has a supporting role to play. “Our goal is to make rivers cleaner, alleviate poverty in the world’s poorest areas through our projects, and strengthen plastic recycling as a response to greenwashing,” Kelly said, describing his organization’s reasons for this collaboration. “Working together on projects in Africa with ASCON, we could see our common path and mutual professionalism. Therefore, signing a long-term recycling contract was a logical step for us,” Kelly concluded.

Both companies will report on their joint recycling activities on a quarterly basis in the future. The recycling of approximately 3 million plus kilograms of plastic is planned for 2023.