The value of plastic waste: meet WasteBoards

The plastic soup is a big issue, not only in our oceans, but also in local waters. Starting in the canals of our own capital Amsterdam, Plastic Whale is initiating boat tours to collect everything that doesn’t belong in these waters. Part of the Plastic Whale family is WasteBoards. A brand new skateboard brand, that produces decks from recycled plastic. Hand picked bottle caps form the main ‘ingredient’ in their product. With this tailor-made, unique, 100% sustainable product, they’re contributing to circularity in a creative way. A world improving brand, we could say. What about their mission and the impact they make in our world?

No regular skateboard brand

This startup seems to have a clear mission and is anything but ‘just another skateboard brand’. WasteBoards wants to broaden her scope when it gets to their target audience. They firstly focus on young, consciously living people that are interested in skateboarding. Not so much ‘hardcore skaters’, but youngsters who like to cruise the streets of their city, which is a much broader group of people.

We don’t actually think WasteBoards will be a ‘regular’ skateboard brand, since it is very much the story behind the boards which make them special.

With the story that WasteBoards is telling, their product might appeal to a much broader audience than just skateboarders. During the summer, they reached this group at the many festivals they were present. Baking bottle caps into skateboards with their mobile bakery showed people how they’re working.

It’s about getting started

In the philosophy of WasteBoards we recognize a key learning: they believe in just getting started with your idea or your business and let it grow from there. Putting your money where your mouth is, is most important. When baking skateboards at the large music events in the Netherlands last summer, it was their belief that more music events and countries would follow. Believing in your story and the product you’re offering form an important basis. For WasteBoards this worked. “We haven’t even started yet and we’ve already got requests for Belgium”.

Believe in what you’re doing and put your money where your mouth is.

Pursuing a sustainable mission

In their existence it is WasteBoard’s mission to create value from plastic waste. Around the world, but on a local basis. That’s where the idea of the Mobile Board Bakery comes in. This Bakery could be shipped to the slums of Mumbai for instance, to bake WasteBoards there with local waste, and together with the local community. That way WasteBoards can stimulate the local economy and fight plastic pollution on a local scale. While WasteBoards is busy focusing on producing recycled skateboard decks the coming period, who knows what they are up to in the future…

Are you a meaningful brand too, and do you wonder how to engage with your customers in a meaningful way? Or how to start creating market share as a next step? At Rainbow Collection we offer you the right tools and the right people to start creating positive impact. Together we will make a change. Keep track of all positive impact creators through Facebook or Instagram!