18 June 2025
By Amily Goh
Plastify tackles plastic waste in Singapore by recycling recyclable plastics into 100% recycled products. It also conducts maker workshops to raise awareness about plastic pollution and educate the public on proper recycling practices.
Inside a cramped, 40-foot container office back in 2021, Paul Lee and his team started melting bottle caps in an oven – driven purely by curiosity. Despite being unconventional and a little bit hazardous, the team was trying to discover what else plastic waste could do.
That raw, makeshift energy surrounded by heaps of collected bottle caps and a jumble of improvised machinery went on to give birth to Plastify, a homegrown recycling initiative that is carving out its own niche in Singapore’s sustainability landscape.
Armed with do-it-yourself machines and a community-driven approach, Plastify is not just recycling plastic, but reshaping the way people think about it.
Lee revealed that their interest in this initiative was sparked by Singapore’s lack of knowledge in recycling.
“It’s not that people didn’t want to recycle; they just didn’t know what to do, where to go, [and] how to sort it out properly,” the 32-year-old Plastify managing director explained.
Households in Singapore practice commingled recycling, placing recyclables into a specified blue bin without sorting them. As a result, bins are often filled with trash, resembling general waste bins more than recycling ones. For those who diligently rinse and sort their plastics, the sight can be discouraging.
Contamination also undermines the system brought by food-stained containers, non-recyclable plastics, and wish-cycling, where people toss items in bins hoping they’re recyclable. Improperly sorted recyclables end up being incinerated instead of reused.
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA) in 2022, about 40% of items in the bins cannot be recycled due to contamination. This contributes to Singapore’s stubbornly low domestic recycling rate, which dipped to 12% in 2022—the lowest in more than a decade. The plastic recycling rate was at 6% in that year.
On the other hand, only few among the public are aware of how the recyclables will be sorted and processed further. The lack of clarity in the country’s recycling system points to a larger issue and eroded public trust over time. As such, Plastify aims to bridge public understanding.
At Plastify, clear containers line the walls, each holding shredded plastic neatly sorted by colour. There is no acrid smoke, no buzzing flies, no sticky soda bottles clinging to heaps of waste. But things did not start this clean. Plastic came in dirty, mixed, and they even felt like they were collecting rubbish. With this in mind, Lee integrated public education into his business model.
They conducted hands-on workshops for schools and corporations at the end of 2021, teaching participants how to properly sort plastics while debunking common recycling myths.
Participants are guided step by step through the recycling process — from shredding plastic waste and melting it in an injector, pressing it into molds, allowing it to cool, and finally extracting the finished recycled product. Some of the recycled products include coasters, carabiners, medals, Jenga sets, and furniture stools.
One of the biggest misconceptions in recycling is that all plastics, even cleaned, are recyclable.
Plastify highlighted through their workshops that there are 7 types of plastics, yet only types 1,2,4 and 5 are generally recyclable and types 3,6, and 7 are generally not. Despite this, polystyrene, a type 6 plastic commonly used for disposable food containers and packaging, still frequently ends up in recycling bins.
While people have good intentions, lack of knowledge can lead them to do more harm than good.
“I love to teach. When people finally understand things like the different types of plastics and how to identify them, it makes me very happy. It’s fulfilling. There are so many gaps [in understanding], and what we try to do is to fill them, to help people become more conscious,” the managing director said.
Even though workshops often leave participants inspired, Lee is candid about the limits of one-off events. He firmly believes that education needs to be repeated and reinforced, drawing analogy to students who cannot be expected to build a bridge just from learning pythagoras once.
Some participants return for volunteer sessions, better equipped and more conscious about plastic types. But others forget the basics. “There was a big corporation that came back a year after our talk. I quizzed them on the seven plastic types and they couldn’t remember,” he said.
To make learning stick, Plastify has been shifting its focus over the past year and a half toward more sustained partnerships.
“We’re pushing for lasting impact, placing labelled bins in offices, setting up booths, and offering learning journeys. You need constant reminders. That’s how habits stick,” said Lee.
Sustainability businesses like Plastify often struggle to survive. Their products are far from cheap, and are pricier than mass-produced alternatives because of the labour-intensive process behind each piece.
“We’re working with plastic waste by washing, sorting, shredding, and injecting using machines we built ourselves. That comes with a premium,” Lee elaborated.
Rather than targeting the average consumer, Plastify’s business is largely Business-to-business (B2B). They thrive on partnerships with corporations and institutions. Companies often engage Plastify for CSR-driven workshops, especially during calendar events like Earth Day or Plastic-Free July. These corporations have the demand and budgets for these activities and that is how many sustainability companies survive.
Another major driver of Plastify’s growth is customization.
“It’s huge,” Lee repeated 3 times, eyes lighting up. “People really cherish customized things. It’s been a game-changer for us. I wasn’t sure at first, but now it’s what so many clients want, their own logos, their own molds, that sense of ownership.” said Lee.
It first started with a simple coaster. Lee’s business partner suggested customizing it, mirroring trends in creative sectors. Lee explained that this strategy creates a sense of belonging and clients want to build that affinity between them and their customers.
To date, Plastify has collaborated and produced exclusive merchandise for well-known companies in Singapore including the United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), National Environmental Agency (NEA), Mandai Wildlife Group, and Takashimaya.
Strategic use of sustainability grants has been key to scaling up. Plastify won the ASEAN Blue Innovation Challenge, securing a grant of around USD 40,000 to fund machines for furniture production. In a separate event, the company was also awarded Best Sustainable Initiative With An Impact.
In the long term, financial sustainability hinges on staying nimble, maximizing community support, and riding the growing wave of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) spending.
“I think at the start, we didn’t really know much, we were just experimenting. My feelings towards plastic as a material have always been the same. It’s versatile, and I’ve come to appreciate it even more now that we have better machinery to work with — the sheet press, the molds — we can make so many things,” Lee explained.
But one thing has changed: the scale.
The volume of plastic they received has skyrocketed this year. Plastify disclosed that they can only accept a maximum of 150 kg plastics a week compared to other recycle traders that accept tons a week.
“The truth is, we’re dealing with an ocean of plastic. Over the past one and a half years, I’ve had to emotionally distance myself a little. I’ve learned to accept that we can’t tackle all of Singapore’s plastic waste. We just don’t have the time, the space, or the resources,” Plastify admitted.
When they first started, there was no glossy pitch deck, no sleek startup plan. Just a spirit of experimentation, the generosity of everyday plastic donors, and a desire to tackle a growing plastic waste gap that few were addressing.
But now, they have successfully engaged communities, educated the public, and transformed waste that would otherwise go unnoticed.
In five years, Plastify envisions their expansion into large-scale plastic furniture, 3D printing, and reaching more schools across Singapore.
“We’ve found our place in the system. We’re not trying to fix everything. But we’ll do what we can, with what we have,” Lee said with pride.
(Edited by Joshua Mendoza)
Plastify recycles plastic waste into reusable goods and facilitates education workshops to close the plastic loop. Based at 51 Jln Pemimpin #05-04, Singapore 577206, Plastify focuses on recycling plastic waste. You can reach out to them on Instagram @plastify.sg
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