POPSEA Opens a PET Recycling Facility in Semarang

Prevented Ocean Plastic Southeast Asia (POPSEA), a company specializing in collecting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other plastics at risk of entering the ocean, opened an aggregation center in Semarang, Central Java, last June.

The facility, which has a capacity of about 500 metric tons per month and directly employs 40 people, was funded through a blended public-private finance model that included a $400,000 grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

In an interview with resource-recycling.com, Vytas Groudis, Co-Founder and Director of Prevented Ocean Plastic, said the fund came after USAID officials conducted a nine-month deep dive due diligence at POPSEA facilities in Indonesia. "They were satisfied that Prevented Ocean Plastic was their preferred model for building infrastructure in developing countries that are not served by any formal recycling," Gruodis said.