Free Plastic turned 5 YEARS OLD this month!! And just like last year, we have so much to celebrate…

Our monthly cleanups have being going great. We have collected over 9,200 pounds of pollution; reclaimed 462 pounds of plastic pollution; and recycled over 160 pounds of post-consumer plastic and plastic pollution. Our final cleanup of the year was with the #AppleVolunteers where we collected nearly 100 pounds of pollution, a lot of which was microplastics.

Our new line of Shattered Boards was a great success, and we look forward to making more of them. The Shattered series recycles various salvaged hardwoods and ocean plastic into serving boards that mimic the look of shattered glass.

We also received an amazing donation from Sozo Sushi Bar in Wilton Manors, FL. They donated the steel frames from their broken furniture, and we are turning those frames into bases for new coffee tables and bar stools! The first of this limited series of furniture will be in our store this week — The Bean 001. To make it, we used salvaged hardwoods, ocean plastic, bright blue epoxy, and a salvaged steel chair frame from Sozo.

Since we salvaged nearly 1 ton of hardwood scraps from local companies that were closing up their shops, we have been trying to dream up new ways to use all the wood. Earlier this year, we partnered with Jesse Fishman, a musician & guitar builder, to create the first in a series of guitars made from recycled plastic pollution and salvaged wood. That guitar will be in our store soon, and we are looking forward to building many more guitars in the near future.

As usual, when we create products using new epoxy, we are aware that we are generating new plastic, and as such, we keep as much of the waste from these products as possible. And, after 5 years of working with epoxy and unrecyclable plastics, we have FINALLY found the product to make via all the waste we have stored through the years. So this year we presented our Faux Stained Glass!! We are so excited to be able to turn our waste into a byproduct that can create more items to share with you.

Continuing the anniversary celebration theme, we were involved in the Awesome Foundation’s 10 Year Anniversary Documentary!! Their team joined us at our new warehouse and got to explore the many ways we recycled materials. Free Plastic wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the initial grant awarded to us in 2019. That investment in our vision allowed us to expand our manufacturing equipment from office supply equipment to professional shredders and ovens. As always, thank you Awesome Foundation.  

Also!! We were thrilled to be featured in the latest release of Impact Edition, stories spotlighting Miami’s extraordinary changemakers. They showcased our Plastic Poetry project, in partnership with O, Miami and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

This year we installed 5 new poems in Miami Beach, Fountainebleu, Liberty City, and Little Haiti. Plastic Poetry is near and dear to our hearts, and we cherish every moment we get to celebrate creativity throughout Miami-Dade County. And our favorite moments with this project are the celebrations of the Young Poets found throughout our community. Learn more about Plastic Poetry here.

And, finally, it wouldn’t be a birthday without a celebration, and that is exactly what happened on May 11 at Apple Aventura. We hosted a Today at Apple workshop where participants were invited to DREAM BIG to develop their own products and works of art out of recycled materials. We taught everyone about the various types of plastics and the current recycling capabilities within South Florida, and then we got to work designing products our of plastic that would not be single use, nor disposable. It was such a great way to celebrate our birthday with the community.

Thank you all for the support, and we look forward to another year of growth, product development, and most importantly, recycling.

If you would like to support our mission, please make a donation here.