2022: A year full of highlights and a fundraising record!

2022 was truly an incredible year for Buy Food with Plastic, with countless highlights! There were also some lows. Nevertheless, we achieved a lot with a record donation amount and helped many people. The launch of the World Changing Campaign 2.0 was particularly successful, allowing us to hit the ground running in 2023.

First of all, we want to say: Thank you! Your commitment has contributed significantly to a highly effective and successful year. Together we experienced so many highlights that it would be impossible to list them all here. We are happy to share our favorites with you below and take a look back at 2022 through pictures.

Record donations in 2022

We would like to highlight one achievement in particular: 2022 was Buy Food with Plastic's most successful donation year to date. Although the annual financial statements are not yet available, we can already say that we received approx. CHF 410,000 in donations in 2022 and successfully completed the first stage of the World Changing Campaign 2.0. As soon as the 2022 annual financial statements are available, we will show how the donations were used and what impact we achieved.

With this "good news", we start the new year knowing that we can implement several important projects, such as acquiring the urgently needed truck for Nicaragua, the upcycling machines in Ghana, and setting up a factory in India.

The overview of Buy Food with Plastic's year 2022 clearly shows the major impact achieved by the activities.

Many highlights despite some lows

A lot happened in Nicaragua in 2022:

• With Frank Sarria, we gained a committed General Country Manager who is very well connected and devotes his heart and sound expertise to our vision.
• A major milestone is the commissioning of the very first Buy Food with Plastic factory. But it is so much more than just a business: The facility provides three new upcyclers* with secure employment, serves as our headquarters in Nicaragua, and is a social meeting place for the local population. But more than that, during Hurricane Julia, the facility provided our local employees with a safe shelter.
• Another milestone is the collection points for plastic bottles that we have set up in five different communities. They are the only collection containers in the entire region and enable the disposal of PET, HDPE & PP (e.g. PET, shampoo & oil bottles) independently of our community events.
• We regret that we had to end our employment relationship with Miriam, the first upcycler in Nicaragua, at the end of 2022. Unfortunately, attempts to integrate Miriam into the team were unsuccessful, which is why we decided on this step for the benefit of the entire operation.

India: A rollercoaster of emotions

Admittedly, our plans in Bhandup, Mumbai, India, initially proved to be a cause for concern. So much so that we were close to deciding to give up on India entirely. This was because we received fewer donations for our activities than expected, leaving us with hardly any resources to become active. We owe it mainly to two special people that we can now look back on with positive feelings: Shakti Yadav, our Country Manager, and Salomé Handschin, a volunteer who devoted herself passionately, resolutely, and purposefully to the location in India:

• Thanks to Shakti Yadav's determination, we obtained CSR certification. This enables aid organizations such as Buy Food with Plastic to conduct local fundraising.
• Our newly joined volunteer, Salome Handschin, personally committed herself on site of her own free will. During the approximately three weeks Salome spent in Mumbai, she, among other things, made contacts with local authorities, foundations, and aid organizations. In doing so, she created a good foundation for future work in India. Salome will soon inform you about her experiences in India. Particularly noteworthy: Salome fully financed her valuable commitment in India herself. A contribution that cannot be appreciated highly enough!

These joint efforts led to us finally receiving donations for India towards the end of 2022. A worthy conclusion to the rollercoaster of emotions in India, which allows us to look confidently into the future.

In Ghana, where things went relatively smoothly, we are pleased with the following highlights:

• We were able to use the basic setup established during the COVID year 2021 to conduct four community events last year.
• In addition, we successfully launched awareness workshops in schools in Ghana. Committed teachers educate schoolchildren about environmental protection and especially about the effects of plastic waste.
• Furthermore, our local team has delved deeper into product development in order to close the plastic cycle in Ghana in the near future by further processing the collected sachets and plastic bottles.

The year 2022 has further numerous highlights to offer: We were able to gain new volunteers who contributed to the success of Buy Food with Plastic in a wide variety of ways. We are also pleased with the new members, major donors, and partners. Their collective support enabled us to implement the important projects mentioned above. Even when we received fewer donations than planned and consequently had to temporarily suspend the community events in India. Thanks to support at all levels, we were able to overcome the challenges and are now stronger than ever!

It is this positive news that shows us that together we can achieve great things. And so we start the new year full of drive and enthusiasm! We now look forward to the upcoming projects and achievements and hope that with your help we can continue to help numerous people live better lives in the future.