As part of Precious Plastic and working daily with plastic waste, a project that connects plastic recycling to web3, blockchain has always popped up in my mind
I share with you some research I did, if anyone wants to share a project that makes this connection, please leave it in the comments
Precious Plastic has applied for the Commons Prize at Common Stock for a collaboration with the potential to create a DAO. If you want to see the project and the discussion, you can visit the github.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is a form of organization where decisions are collectively and decentralized made using smart contracts and blockchain to automate and record transactions and incorporate governance processes and tokens.
I believe we can build a decentralized plastic recycling system by creating coordination games to encourage people to handle their waste better.
Take advantage of web3:
- Global
- Transparent
- unchanging
- programmable finance
- New engine designs based on game theory, implemented for decentralized blockchain networks as open-source and transparent code
Open-source: Plastic Recycling Hardware
Precious Plastic is an open-source hardware project that empowers people to start their recycling businesses. It provides knowledge about plastic, its types, machine know-how, collection points, and the entire universe of recycled plastic.
Over 10 years, one of Precious Plastic's greatest achievements for the global community has been the translation of complex recycling and engineering concepts into accessible knowledge and information that anyone can replicate and build locally.
The "how-to" guides consist of tutorials created by the community for the community, offering freely available and ranked products, tips, and methods based on their importance.
They have designed and developed plastic recycling machines that are shared online, allowing people around the world to suggest, comment, and start replicating and building these machines locally.
Precious Plastic aims to enable as many people as possible to start recycling, whether by providing information on how to do it or by connecting them with others in their local communities to tackle the plastic waste problem.
In addition to machine development, Precious Plastic has a platform and a community on Discord that facilitates and promotes collaboration and community building.
On the Bazar, you can find products sold by the community, making accessing the best products created worldwide easier.
(https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/)
Impact in 2023
The Precious Plastic Impact Report for 2023 provides a summary of the report's key points. You can view the full report here:
- 107 countries
- 595,400 tons recycled in 2022
- Over $36 million in revenue
- 6,441 employees
- 11,510 volunteers
- 1,881 machines built in 2022
The Plastic Problem
Precious plastic site: Academy, plastic Intro.
Precious Plastic is often known for freely sharing information and being an open-source project.
Precious Plastic faces the challenge of the tragedy of the commons, where many users benefit from their resources but struggle to contribute to the underlying protocol.
Currently, there is a disincentive for individuals to contribute to Precious Plastic.
If someone develops a new machine or mold, they are more likely to sell it rather than share it with the community.
This problem hampers the potential for growth and the impact that could be generated.
Blockchain and Plastic Waste
Precious Plastic's application to Common Stack and the decentralized eyewear produced by DCS Nouns, a group of producers that fund their ideas for the Nouns ecosystem.
You can watch the video of this project here:
The integration of Precious Plastic into the blockchain would be a way to reverse and align individual incentives with the project's interests.
Blockchain technology, governance through a DAO, and crypt
Economics can generate coordination incentives for significant contributions and promote community growth.
"By transferring ownership and governance from the core team to the community, individuals recycling plastic around the world can have a stake in Precious Plastic's success. As the project thrives, their stake increases, providing a powerful incentive to contribute back to the community."
The transition from a Web 2 open-source project that has already helped thousands of people worldwide start recycling to blockchain and Web 3 technologies presents unique challenges and immense potential.
Plastic pollution generates a range of negative externalities. Regeneration projects need to exist, be funded, and grow. Precious Plastic can play a crucial role by simplifying language and concepts into simple and understandable ideas that anyone can grasp regarding the potential of blockchain to address coordination failures.
Therefore, we face problems like free-riders who benefit from and utilize open-source technology without contributing or generating incentives back to the community, as well as the difficulty of funding a project that serves as a public good, lacking profitability without community or public support.
Although it is a project that has not yet been initiated, Precious Plastic Commons is an interesting initiative for a protocol that directly addresses the plastic waste problem in a decentralized manner.
It could gather global-level information and knowledge within a community where proposals can be written and shared to encourage local recycling microenterprises.
Governance processes and tokens, as seen in DAOs, would enable coordination among projects working with plastic waste and its community.