PEDRO Cares

DAM Good Effort

As part of PEDRO’s commitment towards becoming a better brand for the environment, we have invited Matthijs Rikken from DAM Good Plastic to our Headquarters to give our colleagues in Singapore and overseas a talk on how as a community, we can do better with plastic waste and upcycling. We caught up with Matthijs before his talk, to learn more about who they are and why they do, what they do.

BY SHERMAINE LIM, 4 JULY 2022

BY SHERMAINE LIM, 4 JULY 2022

In alignment with World Earth Day 2022’s theme #InvestInOurPlanet, PEDRO has invited DAM GOOD PLASTIC (DGP), to engage with our people to learn more about the origins of plastic manufacturing, its direct implications on our health and the environment, and how everyday individuals like us can do our part in creating a more sustainable world through the process of plastic upcycling.

In alignment with World Earth Day 2022’s theme #InvestInOurPlanet, PEDRO has invited DAM GOOD PLASTIC (DGP), to engage with our people to learn more about the origins of plastic manufacturing, its direct implications on our health and the environment, and how everyday individuals like us can do our part in creating a more sustainable world through the process of plastic upcycling.

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WHO IS DAM GOOD PLASTIC?

Meet Matthijs Rikken, the founder of DAM GOOD
PLASTIC (DGP) and a multidisciplinary design
studio – STUDIO DAM. At STUDIO DAM, Matthijs
and his team believe that everyone can do their
part to lessen their impact on the environment;
as individuals, communities, businesses and
government bodies.

Hence in October 2021, DGP was established as
their internal corporate effort in plastic waste
reduction through up-cycling as a solution that
allows them to marry their creative talents with
business acumen and social responsibilities.
DGP collects, sorts, and creates new products
from HDPE 2 and PP waste plastic.
Meet Matthijs Rikken, the founder of DAM GOOD PLASTIC (DGP) and a multidisciplinary design studio – STUDIO DAM. At STUDIO DAM, Matthijs and his team believe that everyone can do their part to lessen their impact on the environment; as individuals, communities, businesses and government bodies. 

Hence in October 2021, DGP was established as their internal corporate effort in plastic waste reduction through up-cycling as a solution that allows them to marry their creative talents with business acumen and social responsibilities. DGP collects, sorts, and creates new products from HDPE 2 and PP waste plastic.

WHO IS DAM GOOD PLASTIC?

Meet Matthijs Rikken, the founder of DAM GOOD PLASTIC (DGP) and a multidisciplinary design studio – STUDIO DAM. At STUDIO DAM, Matthijs and his team believe that everyone can do their part to lessen their impact on the environment; as individuals, communities, businesses and government bodies. 

Hence in October 2021, DGP was established as their internal corporate effort in plastic waste reduction through up-cycling as a solution that allows them to marry their creative talents with business acumen and social responsibilities. DGP collects, sorts, and creates new products from HDPE 2 and PP waste plastic.

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WHY WAS IT STARTED?

When asked what was the driving factor for Matthijs to start  DGP, he explained that after running his branding agency for a  couple of years, he found it difficult to convince his clients to  think about more sustainable and circular approaches to the  materials used within the project.

Inspired by his fellow Design Academy Eindhoven school mate,  Dave Hakkens, from the Netherlands, who created an open source platform called the Precious Plastic Project back in 2013, Matthijs then tapped on the Precious Plastic Machine to embark on DGP’s mission of upcycling waste plastic.

But we are still curious, why plastic upcycling and not, other recycling efforts? Matthijs explained that from his studies, in 2020 alone, while Singapore’s total plastic waste was 868,000 tonnes only 4% of that amount was recycled. By upcycling plastic, this helps to ensure that it does not end up in the environment.

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“These numbers are extremely big but if nobody does anything there will be no change at all. It is all about education”

– Matthijs.

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WHY WAS IT STARTED?

When asked what was the driving factor for Matthijs to start  DGP, he explained that after running his branding agency for a couple of years, he found it difficult to convince his clients to think about more sustainable and circular approaches to the materials used within the project.

Inspired by his fellow Design Academy Eindhoven school mate, Dave Hakkens, from the Netherlands, who created an open source platform called the Precious Plastic Project back in 2013, Matthijs then tapped on the Precious Plastic Machine to embark on DGP’s mission of upcycling waste plastic.

But we are still curious, why plastic upcycling and not, other recycling efforts? Matthijs explained that from his studies, in 2020 alone, while Singapore’s total plastic waste was 868,000 tonnes only 4% of that amount was recycled. By upcycling plastic, this helps to ensure that it does not end up in the environment.

“These numbers are extremely big but if nobody does anything there will be no change at all. It is all about education”

– Matthijs.

In addition, he has also mentioned that the key challenge is that “there is a lack of general knowledge and understanding of plastic and this is the main reason why the recycling numbers in Singapore are so low.” Another stumbling block, is upcycling plastic is a labour intensive process and using virgin plastic is cheaper and more convenient. 

So how can the community, especially corporations can contribute to plastic upcycling and help support the initiatives like what DGP is doing? Matthijs has shared that instead of discarding plastic wastes, companies could make collection of internal plastic waste a norm and use these plastics to upcycle it into potential new products that could fit their brand.

In addition, he has also mentioned that the key challenge is that “there is a lack of general knowledge and understanding of plastic and this is the main reason why the recycling numbers in Singapore are so low.” Another stumbling block, is upcycling plastic is a labour intensive process and using virgin plastic is cheaper and more convenient. 

So how can the community, especially corporations can contribute to plastic upcycling and help support the initiatives like what DGP is doing? Matthijs has shared that instead of discarding plastic wastes, companies could make collection of internal plastic waste a norm and use these plastics to upcycle it into potential new products that could fit their brand.

For us here at PEDRO, we are constantly looking for the next best thing and how we can do more to safeguard our planet. After such an informative and empowering talk by Matthijs, the founder of DGP, our community now aims to make a difference and do our part to protect our planet and restore nature, and we would like you to join us in this journey.

For us here at PEDRO, we are constantly looking for the next best thing and how we can do more to safeguard our planet. After such an informative and empowering talk by Matthijs, the founder of DGP, our community now aims to make a difference and do our part to protect our planet and restore nature, and we would like you to join us in this journey.

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“We know plastic is still a very important material that is necessary in a lot of products and that it cannot just be replaced by anything over night. But what we can change is the afterlife of it, we will make it into DAM GOOD PLASTIC!”

– Matthijs.

“We know plastic is still a very important material that is necessary in a lot of products and that it cannot just be replaced by anything over night. But what we can change is the afterlife of it, we will make it into DAM GOOD PLASTIC!”

– Matthijs.

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