The life of our upcycler Stephen

At educational community events, Buy Food with Plastic collects plastic bottles from the local population in exchange for a hot meal. The plastic bottles are then given a new life by being recycled. To ensure fair working conditions, Buy Food with Plastic has established recycling factories in all three countries where we operate, such as the Indian factory we recently wrote a blog post about. There, the caps are removed and sorted by color, and the bodies of the plastic bottles are shredded and packaged. The sorted caps then go into our recycling machine, which melts the plastic. Cast into a mold, the caps take on a new purpose, such as becoming a surfboard comb or an ice scraper. These products can be purchased in our online shop. We sell the shredded plastic bottles to a local recycling station that has the equipment to recycle this type of plastic. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible for Buy Food with Plastic to recycle this part of the bottle itself due to the high cost of purchasing such a recycling plant. We show the process in our recycling factory in a short video on our social media.

Our team needs upcyclers for recycling. Stephen Assifuah is one of them. He shreds plastic bottles every day that would otherwise rot in nature or be burned by the local population. This job not only provides him with financial stability but also allows him to take responsibility – for his family and beyond.

"With my salary, I pay my rent, water and electricity bills, and buy food," he says.

But that's not all: Stephen also supports his younger brother and the child of a friend whose father has left the family. For him, his job means more than just an income – it allows him to care for the people who are close to his heart.

Through his work, Stephen is not only creating a stable future for himself and his family. He is also part of a movement that is actively tackling the plastic problem in Ghana – bottle by bottle, day by day.

And so Stephen helps to keep the environment clean by ensuring a circular economy for plastic. His work represents a core part of our social environmental project, for which we are grateful to him and all our other upcyclers. Everyone does their best every day to provide a better life for themselves and the community.

Do you also want to make a contribution? With 10 CHF, you provide an upcycler in our factory with half a day's wage.

Here is the location of Buy Food with Plastic Ghana, where Stephen works: