From plastic waste to souvenir

PRODUCTS MADE IN UPERNAVIK ! New products made out of recycled plastic waste from our garbage Thanks to Strandet  , Avannaata Kommunia

Thank you to all the citizens who stopped by our open house event regarding plastic recycling. It was great to experience the great local interest in the possibilities of recycling plastic. We stopped by Upernavik school and showed the students the possibilities. Thank you to the Department for Sustainability Avannaata Kommunia and Strandet for making this project possible.

In Upernavik we focus on recycling and sustainability

Just a few hundred meters from the dump in Upernavik, Nikolaj Sørensen, owner of Café de Upernavik,

with the help of the Danish environmental company STRANDET, has started a project that will help

show that plastic waste can be recycled into new products. The goal is to create greater focus on

waste management and recycling.

From waste to shirt buttons

The small pieces of plastic, which come from broken fish boxes, are poured into the funnel of the little yellow

machine. A mold is placed precisely under the nozzle, after which Nikolaj turns the wheel with great force and presses the now molten plastic into the mold. A moment later he shows off 10 beautiful white

and blue plastic buttons. The mold is reassembled and the process is repeated.

The fishing boxes are collected from the local dump, after which they have been cleaned and broken into small

pieces, ready to be transformed into everything from buttons to souvenirs – all products that will help to show that our waste is actually a valuable resource. "We want to help show people in Upernavik and the surrounding settlements that we need to find proper solutions to our waste challenges," says Nikolaj, "and in this way we create knowledge in a fun and engaging way," he continues.

Schoolchildren learn about plastic pollution

As part of the project, Nikolaj and Jens visited the school in Upernavik. The children in grades 6-8

Waste harms nature

Waste in nature and the oceans is a growing environmental problem. This applies to most of the world

and unfortunately also here in Greenland. A 2021 study by the WWF.

Waste collected along the west coast of Greenland shows that the majority of the waste comes from Greenland itself. And something needs to be done about it – for the sake of nature and animals. That's why Nikolaj contacted Jens Wilhelm from the Danish environmental company STRANDET, which is working to focus on waste in nature and plastic recycling. With support from the sustainability department at Avannaata Municipality, they purchased the necessary machines for the project and on Sunday, May 23, the citizens of Upernavik were invited in for a demonstration of the machines and a chat about waste, recycling and nature. "It was great to see and experience the support from the city's citizens and fortunately we were confirmed that the challenges with the large amounts of waste that end up in nature are also something that concerns many locals, both children and adults," says Jens Wilhelm, co-owner of STRANDET. "Now we just hope that even more people can benefit from the project and that there is a good solution to the challenges with waste in many Greenlandic towns and villages," he concludes. The goal is for the recycling project to visit schools in Avannaata Municipality, so that many schoolchildren can gain knowledge and insight into waste, recycling and the environment.

For more information contact:

Nikolaj Sørensen – Café de Upernavik -

Jens Wilhelm – STRANDET - +4528769936 – jens@strandet.io

This video is about turning waste plastic into products in Upernavik, Greenland. Let us collect, recycle and reuse our garbage. Eqqakkavut katersoriarlugit atoqqiisa Thanks to: #Strandet.io #Avannaata Kommunia #cafe de Upernavik #Jens Wilhelm Jørgensen #zen sørensen #plastic preneur #garbage #reuseideas #reuse #wastereuseideas #waste #wastemanagement

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