On an ordinary morning, as you step into your favorite coffee shop, the familiar sight of plastic cups catches your eye. It's a scene you've witnessed countless times – those disposable cups, destined to end up in landfills, adding to the growing burden of environmental pollution. But today, there's a better choice that allows you to make a positive impact: Robries.
Get to Know Robries
Robries is a plastic recycling venture based in Surabaya. They process plastic waste into amazing interior goods such as stools, tables, and other decorations. Actualizing the circular economy and SDGs are the ultimate target of their sustainable business. This is done through partnering with waste banks, communities, and companies to influence society.
How It Started
Robries’ founder, Syukriatun Niamah, was first inspired to be an environmentalist by her father, who is a mentor teacher for the school mountaineering club. She realized that Indonesia has many astonishing natural landscapes. Unfortunately, those natural treasures are polluted by plastic waste produced by the hikers. Coming from a product design background, Niam was piqued by the idea of making those plastics into a useful everyday product.
Niam and her team started their enterprise by collecting plastic waste from her college dorm room and processing it with a used gas oven. The initial products were desk clocks, coasters, and keychains. They presented their products in campus exhibitions. At first, they mixed the recycled plastic with resin for an aesthetic touch. However, it gained some feedback from the customers as it didn’t match the value of environmentally-friendly products.
The Journey After College
After Niam graduated, she continued her journey in the circular economy business ecosystem. With a fresh new start, Niam and her team moved to a new warehouse in Surabaya’s co-working hub and borrowed some facilities for recycling. They walked up the ladders again by joining art exhibitions and design expos.
Even though people weren’t very aware about the plastic waste issue, Robries still gained attention from government investors such as Kemenristekdikti. The product wasn’t perfect yet at the start, but they gained the grant fund from the institution.
In her circular economy adventure, Niam also had to discontinue one of Robries’ products, which is 3D printer ink. It was because of the inconsistent result of the ink itself. Therefore, the product was pulled from the market. Nevertheless, Niam is still optimistic that Robries can still develop this product in the future.
Notwithstanding, Niam's initiative proved to be immensely impactful. According to Robries' report, they have successfully repurposed over 64 million plastics, transformed more than 200 million bottle caps through upcycling, and crafted in excess of 10 thousand sustainable products. In addition, the business forged partnerships with coffee establishments like Jokopi in Surabaya and one of Indonesia's largest coffee chains, Fore Coffee.
Lesson Learned from Robries
Resilience and consistency are key to running a circular economy business in Indonesia. Twist and turns in a business is a certain thing that an entrepreneur will encounter. Building the courage to continue the venture after college days is also a challenge of keeping your team’s presence and juggling between responsibilities. The key is finding team members who are committed to their goals and have similar visions to our business.
Being an entrepreneur is definitely not an easy task. But don’t fret! Because the Surabaya WasteUp Project is here to help you build your sustainable venture right from scratch. Interested? Go register your business on our website: here
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8oYEKNhYvM&t=254s&pp=ygULcm9icmllcyBjbm4%3D
