Precious Plastic: how plastic is made valuable in Ukraine

In the laboratory of engineer and inventor Yevhen Khlebnikov, plastic gets a second life. It is used to make benches, bicycle parking racks, swings, art works, and many other things. Read on to discover how and why plastic can be made more valuable.

The Ukrainian Precious Plastic workshop is the continuation of an international project by Dave Hakkens, an engineer from the Netherlands. Dave designed equipment that crushes plastic, and shared his inventions online. Anyone who wants to can use his ideas, add their own input, and share the knowledge further. At present, there are more than 8,000 people in this international community. Their main goal is to change attitudes to plastic; to show people that it is not waste but a valuable raw material that cannot simply be thrown away. Hence the project name — Precious Plastic.

Ukrainian background

Precious Plastic Ukraine emerged after photographer Yevhen Khlebnikov and his son had a walk in the woods in Ternopil Oblast.

“Even in that far-away village, the entire forest was brimming with plastic litter. And that’s the world that I, a father, am showing to my son! When I was his age, this world was completely different. Apparently, it is my generation that brought the planet to such a terrible situation. I was walking in the woods and kept thinking if there was anything that I could do. And when I came back home, I had a clear plan,” Yevhen says.

Yevhen began looking for plastic recycling solutions on YouTube and came across a video by a Dutch engineer. It inspired him to start making his own equipment from whatever materials he had on hand. “I chose Dave’s approach — to launch a small workshop to recycle plastic and to show people that it is possible to make something useful out of it. I began to study drawings, to collect components and build the equipment from scrap metal. Every day, after a stroll with my son, I would come home with four plastic bags — two on each handle of the baby carriage. My neighbours thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care,” says Yevhen. Only the children next-door in the village were curious about his work — the adults did not understand why he was so concerned with plastic.

At one point Yevhen had to go to Odesa for work-related reasons. While there, he told some friends about his experiments, and they responded very enthusiastically: “Get your machine and move here! Let’s do something together. You can live here, we’ll find you a room for the workshop.” That was when Yevhen realised that he had found some like-minded people. “I felt that I had some real support in Odesa. People were interested in both me and my work — genuinely interested,” he says.

Now

Today, Precious Plastic is an experimental workshop for plastic recycling in Odesa. New methods, approaches and innovations are tested and produced here all the time.

Among the latest items being produced are balance boards and paving slabs. The project maintains pages on social networks that report what the workshop is working on at the moment, and makes it possible to order new products. When asked what is in greatest demand from buyers, Yevhen does not have a clear answer: “A year ago, I’d say that it was plastic benches. Many coffee shop owners wanted them. After that, we had a lot of orders for bicycle parking racks for schools. It all comes in waves. Also, the workshop don’t tread water, we have something new appearing all the time. We try everything — we make swings, we make musical instruments, we make decorations.”

Yevhen compares the development of the workshop with an Oscar-winning movie. If everything were fine, stable and predictable, it would be boring. Such films do not win awards and nobody wants to watch them. But when there is drama, obstacles to overcome, it becomes much more interesting. For Precious Plastic Ukraine, stability is not enough. Instead, there are constant changes in the team, there are relocations and experiments:

“We have difficulties, but in this I see development and the completeness of life. That’s why I am very grateful for everything and everyone who made a contribution to the project.”

Yevhen no longer collects plastic himself. People in Odesa know about the workshop and bring the waste themselves. In the workshop, plastic is crushed and made into plates, and the plates are then cut into products. In the engineering laboratory, the inventor runs experiments and creates new equipment — both for the workshop itself and to order. “I continue to share the technology and am happy to make equipment for other projects in Ukraine and abroad”, he says. He says that quite often he hasn’t a clue where the next idea will lead. He just tries, learns, experiments and sees where it goes.

The problem is in the mind

By education, the creator of the Precious Plastic Ukraine project is a merchandise expert in customs procedures. He became a photographer first, and then a builder, then an engineer and now an inventor. Yevhen believes everyone is able to change professions and occupations — all it takes is being ready and willing to try and learn. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel or wrestle with an idea for a long time. Neither do you have to spend years mastering theory: now all the theory and practice are available in educational videos on YouTube. The engineer advises people to watch them, learn from other people’s experience, and then improve on what was created before you. Yevhen is convinced that anyone who wants change is able to implement it. The idea itself is worth nothing, and there are millions of them around. Strength and confidence it needed to bring the ideas to life.

“I just got up and created the Precious Plastic workshop. I had no barriers or fears in my head. What was there to be afraid of? It’s those who do not believe that are afraid. And I do believe. Everything we want to do, we can do.”

Living in Ukraine and abroad, Yevhen could see that the problem with plastic is a widespread problem — whether it be Kyiv, Mohyliv, or a small village in Ternopil Oblast. The problem is in people’s minds: “They used to view plastic as garbage. It’s been used, it’s no longer needed, throw it away. There are factories in Ukraine that will process plastic. But the problem remains. All forests and coasts are littered with bottles and bags. Why? Because it’s all about attitudes. We need to show that plastic is a valuable raw material, and that must be treated as such.” The engineer has a dream: one day people will stop dumping plastic altogether. The Precious Plastic Ukraine workshop is a step towards that dream.

UNDP implements the “Plastic waste management at the local level” project with financial support provided by the New World Programme, established by the Global Water Challenge and the Coca Cola Foundation. The project aims at minimizing negative impacts and risks to the environment and human health through promoting the sustainable consumption, disposal, and management of plastic waste at the local level.

By Yulia Hudoshnyk for UNDP. Edited by Viktoria Yashkina, UNDP