With now more than 80 projects in 10 different countries, Pretty Plastic is not only making the world a better place, but also a more beautiful place. The company does this by giving hard-to-recycle PVC a second life as high-quality design facade tiles, which can be admired from Boston to Munich. 'As a socially driven entrepreneur, you naturally want to solve the big problems, but in doing so, it is precisely important not to forget the connection with the market.'
The construction industry is one of the largest producers of waste worldwide, including the majority of PVC waste. This type of plastic is also produced mainly for the construction industry because it lasts so long. 'But it is also hardly recycled and we want to change that, using it as a raw material for new products,' says Leva Konaté, Account Executive of Pretty Plastic. 'We also specifically chose to make facade tiles out of it, because you can use them on a large scale and thus reuse as much plastic as possible. They are also easily disassembled and can be reused up to seven times.'
From Dutch Design Week to lasting impact
Pretty Plastic was founded in 2019 by designers Reinder Bakker and Hester van Dijk, along with architect Peter van Assche. But the idea to use plastic as tile originated two years earlier, during Dutch Design Week, where they were commissioned to design the main pavilion entirely circular. It garnered several awards and international attention. 'We were asked by many architects where to buy the tiles, so what was actually a one-time project suddenly became a way to make lasting impact,' Konaté said.
'For the pavilion, we used mostly household plastic waste, from which we still had to rinse the mustard and ketchup ourselves first,' Konaté jokes. 'But that's not the type of plastic that allows you to get all the certificates to use it for construction, such as fire safety. So we switched to PVC from construction waste, such as window frames and downspouts.'
Circular in a world of linear building
There was plenty of demand, but the final production did have some initial issues. 'The existing laws and regulations are mainly focused on linear construction, so you quickly run into that as a circular startup,' says Konaté. 'Also, the rules often differ per country, so you quickly spend a lot of time and money on extensive testing to make sure everything complies with the rules.'
But even newer calculation models, which are supposed to promote circularity in construction, are not always advantageous, according to Konaté: "These models calculate your carbon footprint based, among other things, on the amount of materials you use. But that calculation does not take into account whether those materials used are circular or not.'
'We actually want to use as much plastic as possible, because by doing so we are trying to solve the plastic problem,' Konaté continues. 'But because of that we then get a higher score, whereas what we are doing is simply cleaning up. You can explain that, but some project developers are tied to that score. So that is a consideration we have to make, even though as a company we prefer to make as much impact as possible. That is why we are currently developing a new tile that also meets these low scores.'
German Design Award
There is no shortage of great projects. The MONACO building in Munich, for example, is the first building in Germany where Pretty Plastic façade tiles will soon be on display. The design of the building itself also won the prestigious German Design Award. 'Another project we are also proud of is a new building at Wageningen University, where the structure will be made almost entirely of wood, with almost 2,000m2 of our tiles on the facade,' says Konaté. 'This allows us to upcycle more than 30,000 kilos of PVC.'
Acceleration Program on Future-Proof Building
Pretty Plastic participated in the programs of both life phases 1 and 2 of the Acceleration Program on Future-Proof Building. 'Especially the first part of the program really opened our eyes. As a socially driven entrepreneur, you naturally want to solve the big problems, but in doing so, it is precisely important not to forget the connection with the market. And also the realization that you don't just work in your business, but also have to work on your business.'
'We were also really put to work in a big way,' Konaté continues. I think I interviewed more than 100 people to test our proposition and to see where the needs and pain points are in the market. And that was exactly what we were looking for, because a master class where you just sit and listen and then forget half of it is not very useful. It helped us strategically a lot.
Moving forward internationally
'We are currently in an investment round with which we want to continue to grow as a company in the coming years and also expand internationally,' says Konaté. 'We now have many projects in the Netherlands, Belgium and England, so we also want to expand the team to better serve the markets in Germany, France and Denmark. And America is also a big market for us.'
'We want to eventually open hubs in other countries to produce locally,' Konaté continued. 'We currently use PVC from window frames from the Netherlands, but that doesn't solve the plastic problem in other countries. And by producing locally as much as possible, we are also further reducing our carbon footprint.'
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