We are thankful to you for sharing our journey to catalyze Curacao's Journey to Circularity. Creating a circular economy designs out waste and therefor less plastic will end up in the environment or will go to waste on a landfill.
This holiday season we're taking some time to reflect, evaluate and set some actionalble goals so that we can create more impact in the new year. Do you have some New Years resollutions regarding sustainability?
Our most important goal is to successfully carry out the projects we have going and ensure that we can give more participants that successfully finalize the work and learn program a job so they are no longer dependant on government support. There are currently a few options available and in the first quarter of the new year we'll decide which road we're going to follow.
We're super grateful for your support so far and we'd love to hear from you and connect again in 2022.
Wishing you a healthy & happy new year filled with lots of love!
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Since the last report Green Phenix encountered quite some adversity. The bricks are not coming along as we expected and hoped, the hang printer requires more R&D than anticipated and after a year of operating from 2 locations, we decided that we simply couldn't continue operating 2 locations anymore. This meant that we had to move everything to Paviljoen Zeelandia. We were very fortunate that there were still some empty spaces, which we could use to expand our operation there. In a way we were very sad to leave Sambil, because they are a great partner and we've had an amazing year getting all the exposure of being in the mall. However, the move was a necessary step back to go forward.
In the meantime we've prepared Paviljoen Zeelandia in such a way that we can take tourists through the journey of plastic. From collecting, sorting, shredding, processing to a new product. This was supported by the new project "Curacao's Journey to Circularity" which we are doing in collaboration with Tui Care Foundation. Officially we'll start in January, but we already were able to host the first groups and celeberties. Sometimes our guests join us on a beach cleanup first, so that they also see the origin of our motivation.
Furthermore the first 2 cohorts finished the 1 year lasting "learn and work"-program "waste no more". They received a certificate and currenty 6 former participants are directly employed by Green Phenix, thanks to the support of both MCB & Tui Care Foundation. Currently the 3rd Cohort counts 17 participants and the 7 empty spots will be filled in the new year. We partnered up with Excellent Social Services to extend the support for the participants outside of Green Phenix.
Fortunately, after the challenges of the last months things are looking up. The new particicipants of the learn and work program are great, some really amazing volunteers have joined our cause and we've added an oven to the machine range to also be able to work with ocean plastic. We've been making great steps in creating a growth strategy and we're looking into an interesting opportunity to expand our impact 10 fold. If your interested to learn more, please let me know by sending us an email.
The COVID situation is still making things extra difficult for us and many are struggling. So are we, but we've seen first hand how important it is for people to be able to go somewhere and be valued. So we continue with our mission to create a circular and inclusive economy. We cannot do it alone. If you are doing something charitable at the end of this year, please think of us.
Make a donation, buy a souvenir or book a tour. If you book a tour you can see the work we do first hand.
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The second lockdown was hard. But we made it through and we are now more motivated then ever.
The moulds for the bricks are finally on the island. Well, 5 out of the 6 boxes made it. After making some small alterations to the quick release nozzles, they are now ready to be used. The next two weeks we will do some tests and after that we will be ready to take the first orders for the new innovative building blocks that do not require plastering, nor painting and that can be reused. We're very excited by all the possibilities that these bricks will open up.
Also, the "Out of the Box" printer is coming along nicely. Started by our interns Zacheyre & Kees, now Peterson had taken over, since Kees and Zacheyre were forced to leave the island earlier than expected due to the covid situation. Peterson formed a part of the "Covid 3D printing taskforce" and since April he is an official member of the Green Phenix staff.
The timeframe of the first and second cohorts of the learn and work program is coming to an end. We're looking into ways that some of the participants can stay on in our social enterprize. Other participants we are supporting by supporting their search for a job in another company. The goal is to ensure that all the participants continue to develop themselves and nobody will end up jobless. It is a challenging time to find a steady job, however we are confident that there are some good matches possible. Especially taking into consideration that the participants and eager to learn, they are motivated to work and they have shown strong resilience.
There are some good opportunities for growth on the horizon and as soon as it is confirmed we'll be able to tell you more. Stay tuned for exciting updates!
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Green Phenix and Coca-Cola recycle 33,280 bottles
WILLEMSTAD - At the end of last year, Green Phenix and Coca-Cola launched a joint campaign calling on the community to recycle plastic. This second version of the awareness campaign #maketheturtlesmile ensures that the materials do not go to waste. Instead, they are given a new life in the form of a locally manufactured product. On February 28th, the second version closed with 33,280 bottles collected.
During this campaign, everyone was asked to bring their plastic bottles to Green Phenix in Sambil or at the Zeelandia pavilion. For every 25 bottles or aluminum cans that were handed in, the participants received a stamp. The stamps are used to save for fun, but also useful prizes. These prizes were made available by many local companies, such as Intertoys, De Dames, Flipside coupons; movie tickets from Cinemark; day passes from Kunuku Aqua Resort; entrance tickets for the caves of Hato and Xtreme Zone; STCC caps; all inclusive trips to Klein Curacao with the Miss Ann, D-bottles and custom 3D prints.
Because the campaign again was a great success, the collection for stamps is continued and in collaboration with Coca Cola, Sambil, Sea Turtle Conservation Curacao, Green Phenix will host a third version. The goal is to collect no less than 40,000 bottles before the end of June.
People can bring their plastic recyclables with numbers 1, 2 and 5 and aluminum cans to Green Phenix Sambil (next to the Caracasbaai entrance) from Monday to Saturday from 08:00 - 17:00 and at Green Phenix Pavilion Zeelandia Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The first version of #maketheturtlesmile was run in 2019 and collected 30,573 bottles and focused mainly on school students. This second edition of the campaign is more focused on individual participants. The 3rd version will focus on collaboration.
The main goal of the awareness campaign is to make people aware that recycling is fun and that new products can be made from used materials and to stimulate them to actually recycle.
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